The least cruel method of execution?

scrat, a serious question for I know not the answer, Has world-wide terrorism increased or decreased since the US invaded Iraq?

One of the chemicals used in lethal injection almost everywhere is pancuronium bromide. It paralyzes the skeletal muscles but does not affect the brain or nerves. Its use is so cruel that in some states it is a crime to use it to euthanize pets. The paralysis it induces leaves the inmate wide-awake but unable to speak or cry out as (s)he slowly suffocates. "The subject gives all the appearances of a serene expiration when actually the subject is feeling and perceiving the excruciatingly painful ordeal of death by legal injection" was the opinion of a Tennessee judge, Ellen Hobbs Lyle. She ruled its use has "no legitimate purpose."

John Garvey wrote:

One of the chemicals used in lethal injection almost everywhere is pancuronium bromide. It paralyzes the skeletal muscles but does not affect the brain or nerves. Its use is so cruel that in some states it is a crime to use it to euthanize pets. The paralysis it induces leaves the inmate wide-awake but unable to speak or cry out as (s)he slowly suffocates. "The subject gives all the appearances of a serene expiration when actually the subject is feeling and perceiving the excruciatingly painful ordeal of death by legal injection" was the opinion of a Tennessee judge, Ellen Hobbs Lyle. She ruled its use has "no legitimate purpose."

I wondered if that was true. I looked it up, and it is. My God, that has to be one of the most terrifying things I've ever heard of. Few things horrify me, and I must say, thats one of them.

See for yourself. And all this time, I've thought that L.I. was the most humane way to kill a person.
http://www.arktimes.com/reporter/031017reportera.html

Like most other states that employ lethal injection, Arkansas executes prisoners using the so-called "Texas Cocktail," a three-drug sequence adopted by Oklahoma in 1977 in the first lethal injection protocol in the United States, and later refined and deemed humane by research at the University of Texas School of Pharmacy. First, a dose of sodium pentothal, a fast-acting barbiturate, puts the inmate into an almost immediate sleep. A second injection paralyzes the lungs and diaphragm. Last, a fatal shot of potassium chloride interrupts the electrical signals in the heart.

The problem is the second drug of the three: pancuronium bromide, marketed under the trade name "Pavulon." A drug that paralyzes skeletal muscle in the body, pancuronium bromide is used in delicate surgery where it is crucial that the patient doesn't move. It's also a drug that often plays a part in the rare surgical horror story, in which the patient is completely alert throughout a painful procedure, but paralyzed, unable to communicate with doctors.

the least cruel method of execution? that's like asking what the most compassionate method of rape is.

the least cruel method of execution? that's like asking what the most compassionate method of rape is.

How about a test flight on the space shuttle?

Pentathol's efficacy is limited by large amounts of catecholemines in the blood stream. Since most "executees" likely have high levels of catecholemines coursing about due to the fact they are about to die, it is not surprising that the pentathol dosage might be innefective.

Quote:

Pentathol's efficacy is limited by large amounts of catecholemines in the blood stream. Since most "executees" likely have high levels of catecholemines coursing about due to the fact they are about to die, it is not surprising that the pentathol dosage might be innefective.

Is this because the catecholamines and pentathol are competing for the same receptor, or is it that the sympethetic response overpowers any signals that the parasymp is processing in response to the pentathol?

It does, frankly, seem like the cruelest part of the whole exercise would be the anticipation.

patiodog wrote:

Quote:

Pentathol's efficacy is limited by large amounts of catecholemines in the blood stream. Since most "executees" likely have high levels of catecholemines coursing about due to the fact they are about to die, it is not surprising that the pentathol dosage might be innefective.

Is this because the catecholamines and pentathol are competing for the same receptor, or is it that the sympethetic response overpowers any signals that the parasymp is processing in response to the pentathol?

It does, frankly, seem like the cruelest part of the whole exercise would be the anticipation.

Sypathetic response overpowers the parasympathomimetic effect of pentathol. I saw similar responses in the ED when dealing with GHB overdoses. The best way to handle them is to paralyze them and let them breathe on a vent until the GHB is out of their systems. First one gives an hypnotic, like pentathol, then one administers the paralytic. IT often took three or four times the "normal" dose for that body weight to get the hypnotic to have an effect.

Perhaps abolishing the death penalty would be a better idea.

Then let's go to 5 times the "normal" dose, just to be sure.