# In America, can a death row prisoner ask to be knocked unconscious before execution

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-can-a-death-row-prisoner-ask-to-be-knocked-unconscious-before-execution/805558>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 30, 2017, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-can-a-death-row-prisoner-ask-to-be-knocked-unconscious-before-execution/805558 "2017-12-30T04:10:16Z")\
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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2017, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-america-can-a-death-row-prisoner-ask-to-be-knocked-unconscious-before-execution/805558/12 "2017-12-30T21:03:43Z")

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There’s also the issue that general anesthesia won’t work for an execution. The sort of anesthesia usually used in surgery and such doesn’t actually prevent you from feeling pain. It just prevents you from _remembering_ pain. For a surgery, that’s just as good, but someone getting executed isn’t going to remember it afterwards anyway, no matter what you do.

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