Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/01/26/murderer-executed-with-nitrogen.html
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I would imagine that wanting to die versus not wanting to die makes a significant difference in how unpleasant this method of dying is.
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Also the whole clinical “protocol” where the exit comes after half an hour of being strapped in, drugged, etc.
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experimenting on humans, got it.
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There have been relatively quick, painless and foolproof methods of execution available for many years. For example blowing someone’s head off with a shotgun at point blank range. But death penalty proponents want a peaceful, sanitized version, not for the benefit of the condemned but for their own peace of mind, because they don’t want to have to acknowledge that taking a human life, especially when that person poses no immediate threat, is an inherently violent, barbaric act that has no place in a civilized society.
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Right. Max out the anxiety first. I’m sure that helps a lot. Along with the theater of it all. With the curtain, and the gallery of witnesses. Jesus, can’t we get rid of this already?
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“dysthanized”?
Typo or new word? I couldn’t find it on google which kept sending me to euthanized.
I mean, it works: the “dys-” prefix means “a combining form meaning ‘ill,’ ‘bad,’ used in the formation of compound words” and reminds one especially of dystopian. Euthanization of humans is meant to be voluntary, so an alternative, darker word for involuntary and state-compelled euthanasia is useful.
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Speaking of carbogen, as I recall it’s used to euthanize lab animals and I wonder why they don’t use it for human executions, as the one time I had a psychonautic experience with carbogen it put me very far away in about fifteen seconds. Not that anyone should be executed, of course.
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probably, but this is also a lot easier to clean up
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I haven’t read anywhere that they had him hooked up to any medical devices to collect data about what is happening to his body to try and improve this method of execution.
So as much as authorities want a humane execution, I don’t see anything backing up that claim.
Q. Why can’t an anaesthesiologist come in and knock the person out first, just as in a surgery, and then just crank up the nitrogen?
A. Authorities just care about the perception of being humane.
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You’re not wrong about authorities caring more about the perception of a painless death than reality, but medical professionals (correctly) want nothing to do with executions, so they wouldn’t be able to get an anaesthesiologist. A few days ago on a news radio show the hosts were mentioning that none of the medical professionals or organizations that they reached out to for comments on this execution technique wanted to be interviewed because even answering questions on a radio show about what they thought would or would not be effective, painless, etc. could be considered a form of aid to the people and agencies that want to carry out executions.
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DoC Commissioner Hamm: “Smith was holding his breath for as long as he could … he struggled against his restraints a little bit … there’s some involuntary movement … that was all expected and is in the side effects that we’ve seen, researched, with nitrogen hypoxia.”
Reverend Jeff Hood (paraphrased): “… he struggled for his life for 22 minutes, shaking and writhing on the gurney.”
It sounds like this is a shitty way to go, but that the pro-death penalty folks are eager to spin it as effective and humane because they desperately need an execution method that doesn’t depend on hard-to-source drugs.
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It is 2024. We should ban the death penalty.
Fuck States’ rights.
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And that’s exactly it. “Cruel and Unusual” doesn’t just apply to the execution itself but the condition the body is left in. Sure, obliterating the brain in a millisecond is the most painless way to do it, but if the family of the condemned wants an open-casket viewing you have a problem.
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Since when do death penalty proponents care about sparing the families of the condemned from emotional harm?
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To an extent. As others have pointed out, if you really wanted to make it quick and painless, a shotgun blast or a small amount of plastic explosive to the back of the head would be the best way. And those are easily obtained by law enforcement.
The capital punishment freaks want there to be a spectacle, but only enough to satisfy the morbid urges of the witnesses, not squick them.
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They don’t care about sparing the families, they don’t want the families showing pictures of a mostly-decapitated corpse to the public to lobby against the death penalty.
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It would violate their Hippocratic oath and affect their licensure, professional and employment prospects. Besides most refusing to perform the action on ethical grounds. But hey - they could continue to work one a month at prisons.
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You’re most welcome.
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Aside from the obvious psychological angle; I’d assume that fighting it does not help.
Inert gas asphyxiation typically sneaks up on people because they can continue to breathe freely, continue to keep CO2 levels down, and, unlike for CO2, we don’t have a terribly reliable direct handle on the O2 situation. Very similar situation for carbon monoxide; which sneaks up on you because having your hemoglobin just stop carrying oxygen is not something we notice directly.
If you fight; you’ll probably end up holding your breath; which will let CO2 levels climb until the physiological mechanisms for freaking out about that(which we do have) kick in and cause you to breath again at least briefly until levels go down enough that you can have another go at holding your breath; rinse and repeat until the oxygen actually starts running out.
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