# Execution by lethal injection
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 19, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794 "2017-04-19T15:46:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/1 "2017-04-19T15:46:46Z")
Arkansas planned to execute seven prisoners in two weeks due to one of the drugs used is due to expire soon. The manufacturer of one of the drugs is attempting to stop the executions.
Why are various drugs used in execution? Why not over dose the prisoners with heroin or morphine?
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/2 "2017-04-19T15:56:50Z")
[Morphine overdose:](http://drugabuse.com/library/morphine-overdose/)
> [@](#):
>
> Serious side effects to be aware of include:
> A bluish or purplish hue to the skin.
> Agitation or irritability.
> Changes in heartbeat (either rapid, irregular, or slowed).
> Confusion.
> Difficulty urinating or pain during urination.
> Drowsiness.
> Dry mouth.
> Extreme sleepiness.
> Fainting.
> Fever.
> Hallucinations (either visual or auditory).
> Irregular menstruation.
> Loss of appetite.
> Loss of coordination.
> Muscle stiffness.
> Nausea or vomiting.
> Nervousness.
> Seizures.
> Significant changes in mood or behavior.
> Small pupils.
> Stomach pain or severe cramps.
> Sweating.
> Twitching.
> Unresponsiveness.
As you can see, a morphine overdose can be an unpleasant experience, to say the least.
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### Author:  [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/3 "2017-04-19T16:02:26Z")
How about nitrogen in a sealed chamber? My understanding is that it is quite painless and quick. It is these properties that make it so dangerous in confined spaces.
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### Author:  [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/4 "2017-04-19T16:05:09Z")
The cheapest and most humane form of execution would be to fire a .38 round into the back of the prisoner’s skull, right where the spinal cord comes in. It would turn them off like a light switch; they literally would dead before they knew it.
I don’t understand why this hasn’t been adopted long before now. If we are going to execute someone, then for pity’s sake, do it right.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/5 "2017-04-19T16:07:16Z")
AIUI, the idea behind using a lethal injection for executions was to make it a humane process (though there undoubtedly are death-penalty proponents who wouldn’t mind it if the process _weren’t_ humane).
That said, there have been several cases of lethal injections which were botched, and were evidently something less than humane.
In addition, it’s effectively a medical procedure, but the AMA has come out against doctors participating in lethal injections, and the American Board of Anesthesiologists will revoke the certification of any member anesthesiologist who participates in an execution.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/6 "2017-04-19T16:10:20Z")
> [@MikeF](#):
>
> How about nitrogen in a sealed chamber? My understanding is that it is quite painless and quick. It is these properties that make it so dangerous in confined spaces.
[_Slate_](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2014/05/death_by_nitrogen_gas_will_the_new_method_of_execution_save_the_death_penalty.html) wrote an article on just this subject.
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/7 "2017-04-19T16:14:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> [Morphine overdose:](http://drugabuse.com/library/morphine-overdose/)
>
> As you can see, a morphine overdose can be an unpleasant experience, to say the least.
You’re joking, right? Or do you really believe that the state is concerned about the condemned contracting a dry mouth, loss of appetite, and irregular periods?
Morphine is not used because it can be unpredictable in its onset (particularly if the condemned has built up a tolerance through drug abuse). Also, overdosing on morphine sometimes merely leads to vomiting, even with anti-emetics being administered prophylactically.
mmm
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/8 "2017-04-19T16:22:08Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#):
>
> You’re joking, right? Or do you really believe that the state is concerned about the condemned contracting a dry mouth, loss of appetite, and irregular periods?
I could have [_sworn_ that list also contained:
Agitation or irritability
Fever
Hallucinations (either visual or auditory)
Muscle stiffness
Nausea or vomiting
Nervousness.
Seizures
Stomach pain or severe cramps
Sweating
Twitching
And on rechecking that list, I see that I’m right-it did include all those.
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### Author:  [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/9 "2017-04-19T16:53:28Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> Arkansas planned to execute seven prisoners in two weeks due to one of the drugs used is due to expire soon. The manufacturer of one of the drugs is attempting to stop the executions.
> Why are various drugs used in execution? Why not over dose the prisoners with heroin or morphine?
There are any number of execution methods that are painless/humane; the hurdles are entirely bureaucratic/political/ideological.
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/10 "2017-04-19T16:53:53Z")
Many rock stars seem to off themselves quite well with drugs; people even kill themselves with alcohol overdoses; vets do it to animals regularly. I don’t understand what makes it so difficult for prison officials, other than a seeming general lack of competence.
I would assume the idea would not be to administer a lethal dose at once, but to administer progressively larger doses so that the person is already unconscious when the lethal dose is administered.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/11 "2017-04-19T17:02:46Z")
If an execution is required to have witnesses, you’d rather said witnesses didn’t vomit all over the place, send the prison their subsequent psychiatric bills, or write articles that paint you to be uncaring torturers. Thus the need for a method that is benign as possible.
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### Author:  [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/12 "2017-04-19T17:20:17Z")
> [@MikeF](#):
>
> How about nitrogen in a sealed chamber? My understanding is that it is quite painless and quick. It is these properties that make it so dangerous in confined spaces.
This.
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### Author:  [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/13 "2017-04-19T17:22:54Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#):
>
> If an execution is required to have witnesses, you’d rather said witnesses didn’t vomit all over the place, send the prison their subsequent psychiatric bills, or write articles that paint you to be uncaring torturers. Thus the need for a method that is benign as possible.
Not if you fill the witness room with death penalty proponents. The more gory and inhumane, the more they will cheer. After all, they deserved it, right?
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/14 "2017-04-19T17:32:21Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> Why are various drugs used in execution?
The method of execution is specified by law. Here’s [the relevant Arkansas state law](http://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/2015/title-5/subtitle-1/chapter-4/subchapter-6/section-5-4-617).
The state legislature could change the law to allow other methods of execution. But if they did that, the new law will be challenged in court as violating the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unjust punishment. So states find it easy to stick with their lethal injection laws that have already overcome such challenges.
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### Author:  [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/15 "2017-04-19T17:38:01Z")
> [@md2000](#):
>
> Many rock stars seem to off themselves quite well with drugs; people even kill themselves with alcohol overdoses; vets do it to animals regularly. I don’t understand what makes it so difficult for prison officials, other than a seeming general lack of competence.
Drug and alcohol ODs are by no means reliably fatal.
As I noted upthread, few medical professionals are willing to directly participate in a lethal injection, and that’s why they may be having a “seeming general lack of competence.”
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/16 "2017-04-19T17:44:03Z")
> [@scr4](#):
>
> Here’s [the relevant Arkansas state law](http://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/2015/title-5/subtitle-1/chapter-4/subchapter-6/section-5-4-617).
Thanks, scr4.
An interesting section of the law:
“The department shall carry out the sentence of death by electrocution if execution by lethal injection under this section is invalidated by a final and unappealable court order.”
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/17 "2017-04-19T17:45:57Z")
In addition to the quick painless methods listed above the doomed prisoner could be put under with conventional anesthesia and never know it’s coming. If the public wants a spectacle just use a guillotine. Drugs are highly unreliable but there’s no real compromise between the factions that want executions to be quick and painless and those that desire suffering. The condemned could also be given the convenient means to do themselves in but the political problems are even worse. Carbon monoxide could be used, possibly in combination with nitrogen as well.
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### Author:  [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/18 "2017-04-19T17:47:41Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#):
>
> Drug and alcohol ODs are by no means reliably fatal.
>
> As I noted upthread, few medical professionals are willing to directly participate in a lethal injection, and that’s why they may be having a “seeming general lack of competence.”
They only are unreliable because the participant stops adding to the dose at a certain point. I presume one goal of a chemical execution is to render the patient unconscious so the subsequent lethal dose does not cause suffering - something death by hanging or electrocution does not necessarily provide.
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/19 "2017-04-19T18:23:12Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> In addition to the quick painless methods listed above the doomed prisoner could be put under with conventional anesthesia and never know it’s coming.
If anesthesiologists were willing to participate, sure. But they aren’t, because it means loss of board certification.
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### Author:  [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/execution-by-lethal-injection/784794/20 "2017-04-19T18:31:49Z")
There was a decent Radiolab podcast about lethal injection; back in the 1980s or 1970s, a legislator in one of the plains states (Nebraska or Kansas I think), basically wanted to craft an execution law that would survive court scrutiny. Back then, similar to now, claims were being made about the death penalty being cruel and unusual. The story goes that he called a doctor he knew and just asked for an off-the-cusp recommendation.
The doctor basically said to give them a huge dose of an anesthetic, in the original “three-drug cocktail”, this was sodium thiopental. Logic of this is, a 100mg dose intravenously causes unconsciousness in about 10 seconds for most people. Thus the condemned experience nothing after this is administered.
He then said follow that up with a huge dose of muscle paralytic drug that will cause the lungs to stop working, in the original cocktail this was pancuronium bromide.
He then said to follow that up with a huge dose of potassium salt (KCl), which causes the heart to stop functioning.
The doctor’s logic was the initial anesthetic was so powerful the person would likely have died from that, but more importantly they are rendered unconscious/unaware, so will experience no pain from the following drugs. Then you give them two more fatal doses of two other drugs, one to shut down breathing and the other to shut down the heart, this way there is no uncertainty as to the person’s demise. It’s sudden, painless, and effective.
So the legislator basically took his recommendation and wrote it into law. This became a “model law” that state legislators around the country started following. The entire goal was the belief that you could make executions clinical and not cruel, thus protecting it from legal challenges.
Of course the way it ended up working out is none of these drugs, administered by these “remote injectors” have worked with the reliability desired. The fact that doctors and even phlebotomists won’t generally participate means you have prison orderlies who receive on the job training (but not specialist training) setting up the injections. Sometimes the drugs also just don’t work for various reasons, maybe the drug had broken down in storage or etc. So you had a decent number of “botched” lethal injections, that took 45+ minutes to happen, where the condemned wasn’t properly anesthetized and etc.
Ironically the legislator in question came to regret his involvement in it not all that long after it happened, and came to question both the three drug cocktail and capital punishment it self.
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