"Nitrogen drowning", as it's sometimes called, is considered one of the least awful ways to die. There is no feeling of suffocation or suffering. One just becomes drowsy/dizzy passes out and dies. The feeling of suffocation is cause by an excess of carbon dioxide in the blood or air being breathed. If it's a large room, or if the nitrogen is vented to keep carbon dioxide levels low, there is no feeling at all, as the person keeps breathing as normal with no carbon dioxide buildup.
However, if you just stick someone into a small chamber and fill it full of nitrogen (like what is done to animals), there is no place for the exhaled carbon dioxide to go, and it's full-on suffocation torture.
In a brutal medieval shithole like Alabama, I'm sure they want to cause as much suffering as possible. They'll probably connect a couple of 6" needles to a nitrogen tank, put a plastic bag over the convict's head (clear, so they can watch his face), jam the needles into his chest and crank up the gas until they pop like a balloon.
There’s other choices. How about give them a Tesla and set it on autopilot? Or send them to Purdue pharma approved doctors for chronic pain? Or get them pregnant and send them to Texas?
If they are so bent on killing people with gas, why not carbon monoxide? NYC uses it on the rats FFS. They spray it into the burrows and all those beasties just go to sleep, forever. Why does it always have to involve some kind of chemical medievel torture? Better yet, just stop state sanctioned murder, life in prison is horrible enough and actually cheaper
If we can have compassionate end of life options in places like Oregon, can’t those options also be used for the death penalty, if we must continue killing people? And like others have said, an OD on anesthesia should be easy enough to manage for anyone who can find a vein. Or a good old fashioned opium OD of sleepy time? We put pets down in a nice way. I hope it’s nice please tell me it’s nice for the sad ancient fur babies. Why does an execution have to use a unique process?
This is not to be taken as any sort of endorsement of the death penalty, but let's at least try to get the biology of this correct. Asphyxia in an inert atmosphere, with adequate circulation, is one of the better ways to go. Basically the person/animal passes out and dies, with little or no discomfort. This is very similar to what happens when the air leaks out of a plane at high altitude, minus the blown eardrums and freezing temperatures. The pain and other discomforts in asphyxia (as from choking) arise when CO2 builds up in the blood, which can happen if too small a volume of inert gas around the victim is used. Do animals freak out when this is done to them? Possibly, but probably mostly because they are confined in a small space, or because they get a bit loopy from the low oxygen in the couple of seconds before they pass out. It is nothing like the agony associated with choking or drowning. In fact it is so painless that that is what makes it dangerous to work with inert gas in quantities in a closed space - there is no warning.
Absolutely. I used to own a company that among other things sold industrial gasses. I would train all my workers to know that certain gasses (nitrogen, helium, argon, etc) will *not support life* but they won't make your brain freak out. We have a specific survival mechanism in our brains that pull the panic switch when the CO2 levels rise too high. NIH:
"Changes in CO2 and CO2/H+ levels are sensed in special chemosensitive neurons located peripherally in the carotid body and centrally in the central nervous system. The peripheral carotid neurons detect arterial CO2 and pH, as well as variations in O2 levels in arterial blood."
Cool, unless of course you are working in that environment; then you're dead.
Forty-eight states have interpreted the SCOTUS rulings, as well as established principles in their legal system, to mean that a first-degree murder sentence must automatically revert to life without the possibility of parole if a jury cannot make a unanimous decision to sentence someone to death.
The two exceptions are Indiana and Missouri, where If a jury cannot come to a unanimous decision, the decision to sentence someone to die falls solely on the individual judge presiding over the case.
It makes no sense at all that if America INSISTS on executing people that they can't use the same drugs approved for assisted suicide in states such as Oregon, which are painless, easy to administer and fast-acting barbiturates. I know that if I were offered the options of 1) being killed slowly and painfully by IV drugs administered by sadists, or 2) drinking a glass of something that would simply put me to sleep permanently, I would choose #2.
There is a documentary called "The Suicide Plan" which gives detailed instructions on how to achieve Death With Dignity using a simple canister of helium that you can rent from any party store. Suicide by helium inhalation has become increasingly common in the last few decades in Europe and the US because it produces a quick and painless death.
But I think the point here is that execution has to be shown to be a punishment, not a "quick and painless death." Torture and punishment are immensely satisfying to many people.
The company I once owned rented helium tanks for party balloons. Some would come back by a person who didn't rent it, often with the nozzle broken. A sheriff deputy brought returned a tank one day and explained that a tank of helium was the preferred method of suicide for people who didn't want to leave a mess. Oh.
It's quick, painless, and no mess - just an instant heart attack. There is a national Right To Die organization that will arrange to pick up the tank from your house after you have used it and are dead, and return it to the store. Then when someone finds the body at a later time and calls the police and an autopsy is performed, it looks like the person died of a heart attack, and not from suicide, and the family never finds out and is able to collect on the life insurance.
It makes me sick that putting someone to death isn't enough for some people. That it has to be cruel and painful is just beyond me. I mean, c'mon, if you're gonna argue that it benefits society to remove those people, fine. That doesn't mean you have to go out of your way to be inhumane about it. Fuck me, it seems like this shouldn't have to be explained. 😳
I agree. But some people, including the families of the victims, are bitterly disappointed if the inmate doesn't suffer, in fact some of them would like to see hanging and electrocution brought back. I just don't get it. It's definitely not civilized.
While I can certainly understand where that feeling might come from, it's still a shitty way to do business, and it's something that a civilized country would never allow or aspire to.
Wait, isn't the UN a subsidiary of the US and A? Don't they have to do whatever we tell them? We certainly don't have to let them tell US what to do, do we? We're the good guys. Always.
I don't think "The UN asks us not to do something" is going to convince Republican elected officials.
The UN also asks us to pretty please let prisoners vote, and we're not doing that. The UN asks us to pretty please not incarcerate people just because they might kill themselves, and we're still imprisoning people for suicidal "ideation." The UN asks us to pretty please let teenagers have medical privacy, and we can barely even sometimes almost let ADULTS have medical privacy.
Aside from an unexpected bullet to the back of the head there is no humane way to execute someone because the body instinctively fights to survive. I've sometimes thought that since so many people die from drug overdoses that maybe an injection of a lot of heroine might be humane, but do people just fall asleep or do they tend to choke on their own vomit? So that's out. In any case the number of exonerations should be enough reason to abolish the death penalty.
After my several experiences with Propofol (medically, not recreational), That would be my death of choice.
"Nitrogen drowning", as it's sometimes called, is considered one of the least awful ways to die. There is no feeling of suffocation or suffering. One just becomes drowsy/dizzy passes out and dies. The feeling of suffocation is cause by an excess of carbon dioxide in the blood or air being breathed. If it's a large room, or if the nitrogen is vented to keep carbon dioxide levels low, there is no feeling at all, as the person keeps breathing as normal with no carbon dioxide buildup.
However, if you just stick someone into a small chamber and fill it full of nitrogen (like what is done to animals), there is no place for the exhaled carbon dioxide to go, and it's full-on suffocation torture.
In a brutal medieval shithole like Alabama, I'm sure they want to cause as much suffering as possible. They'll probably connect a couple of 6" needles to a nitrogen tank, put a plastic bag over the convict's head (clear, so they can watch his face), jam the needles into his chest and crank up the gas until they pop like a balloon.
Ah kin jus' see Alabama Torturer Kay Ivey asking whay she should listen to the United Negroes?
I'm guessing the UN's protests just make Gov. Ivey more excited to get her murder on.
There’s other choices. How about give them a Tesla and set it on autopilot? Or send them to Purdue pharma approved doctors for chronic pain? Or get them pregnant and send them to Texas?
If they are so bent on killing people with gas, why not carbon monoxide? NYC uses it on the rats FFS. They spray it into the burrows and all those beasties just go to sleep, forever. Why does it always have to involve some kind of chemical medievel torture? Better yet, just stop state sanctioned murder, life in prison is horrible enough and actually cheaper
Carbon monoxide can cause awful pain.
All right, forget I mentioned it. Now I feel bad for the rats (I know, my neighbors give me the side eye, thinking I am soft)
If we can have compassionate end of life options in places like Oregon, can’t those options also be used for the death penalty, if we must continue killing people? And like others have said, an OD on anesthesia should be easy enough to manage for anyone who can find a vein. Or a good old fashioned opium OD of sleepy time? We put pets down in a nice way. I hope it’s nice please tell me it’s nice for the sad ancient fur babies. Why does an execution have to use a unique process?
I’d be embarrassed if the UN called me out. Alabama probably considers it a badge of honor.
This is not to be taken as any sort of endorsement of the death penalty, but let's at least try to get the biology of this correct. Asphyxia in an inert atmosphere, with adequate circulation, is one of the better ways to go. Basically the person/animal passes out and dies, with little or no discomfort. This is very similar to what happens when the air leaks out of a plane at high altitude, minus the blown eardrums and freezing temperatures. The pain and other discomforts in asphyxia (as from choking) arise when CO2 builds up in the blood, which can happen if too small a volume of inert gas around the victim is used. Do animals freak out when this is done to them? Possibly, but probably mostly because they are confined in a small space, or because they get a bit loopy from the low oxygen in the couple of seconds before they pass out. It is nothing like the agony associated with choking or drowning. In fact it is so painless that that is what makes it dangerous to work with inert gas in quantities in a closed space - there is no warning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inert_gas_asphyxiation
There was a mention of seizures too.
Absolutely. I used to own a company that among other things sold industrial gasses. I would train all my workers to know that certain gasses (nitrogen, helium, argon, etc) will *not support life* but they won't make your brain freak out. We have a specific survival mechanism in our brains that pull the panic switch when the CO2 levels rise too high. NIH:
"Changes in CO2 and CO2/H+ levels are sensed in special chemosensitive neurons located peripherally in the carotid body and centrally in the central nervous system. The peripheral carotid neurons detect arterial CO2 and pH, as well as variations in O2 levels in arterial blood."
Cool, unless of course you are working in that environment; then you're dead.
Christ, can't you just fucking drone kill him at a wedding? Not like the US hasn't tried that more than once.
to every politician who thinks one of these execution methods is humane, I say two things:
1. You first.
2. Unless you are willing to be the one to execute them yourself, hands fucking on the needle, GTFOoH with your bullshit.
I know the last one won't stop every craven arsehole ... but it will stop some of them. And that's a win.
There are others who believe it is humane. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarco_pod. But there's the veterinary data.
Forty-eight states have interpreted the SCOTUS rulings, as well as established principles in their legal system, to mean that a first-degree murder sentence must automatically revert to life without the possibility of parole if a jury cannot make a unanimous decision to sentence someone to death.
The two exceptions are Indiana and Missouri, where If a jury cannot come to a unanimous decision, the decision to sentence someone to die falls solely on the individual judge presiding over the case.
It makes no sense at all that if America INSISTS on executing people that they can't use the same drugs approved for assisted suicide in states such as Oregon, which are painless, easy to administer and fast-acting barbiturates. I know that if I were offered the options of 1) being killed slowly and painfully by IV drugs administered by sadists, or 2) drinking a glass of something that would simply put me to sleep permanently, I would choose #2.
There is a documentary called "The Suicide Plan" which gives detailed instructions on how to achieve Death With Dignity using a simple canister of helium that you can rent from any party store. Suicide by helium inhalation has become increasingly common in the last few decades in Europe and the US because it produces a quick and painless death.
But I think the point here is that execution has to be shown to be a punishment, not a "quick and painless death." Torture and punishment are immensely satisfying to many people.
The company I once owned rented helium tanks for party balloons. Some would come back by a person who didn't rent it, often with the nozzle broken. A sheriff deputy brought returned a tank one day and explained that a tank of helium was the preferred method of suicide for people who didn't want to leave a mess. Oh.
Damn.
It's quick, painless, and no mess - just an instant heart attack. There is a national Right To Die organization that will arrange to pick up the tank from your house after you have used it and are dead, and return it to the store. Then when someone finds the body at a later time and calls the police and an autopsy is performed, it looks like the person died of a heart attack, and not from suicide, and the family never finds out and is able to collect on the life insurance.
It makes me sick that putting someone to death isn't enough for some people. That it has to be cruel and painful is just beyond me. I mean, c'mon, if you're gonna argue that it benefits society to remove those people, fine. That doesn't mean you have to go out of your way to be inhumane about it. Fuck me, it seems like this shouldn't have to be explained. 😳
I agree. But some people, including the families of the victims, are bitterly disappointed if the inmate doesn't suffer, in fact some of them would like to see hanging and electrocution brought back. I just don't get it. It's definitely not civilized.
While I can certainly understand where that feeling might come from, it's still a shitty way to do business, and it's something that a civilized country would never allow or aspire to.
Wait, isn't the UN a subsidiary of the US and A? Don't they have to do whatever we tell them? We certainly don't have to let them tell US what to do, do we? We're the good guys. Always.
I don't think "The UN asks us not to do something" is going to convince Republican elected officials.
The UN also asks us to pretty please let prisoners vote, and we're not doing that. The UN asks us to pretty please not incarcerate people just because they might kill themselves, and we're still imprisoning people for suicidal "ideation." The UN asks us to pretty please let teenagers have medical privacy, and we can barely even sometimes almost let ADULTS have medical privacy.
Aside from an unexpected bullet to the back of the head there is no humane way to execute someone because the body instinctively fights to survive. I've sometimes thought that since so many people die from drug overdoses that maybe an injection of a lot of heroine might be humane, but do people just fall asleep or do they tend to choke on their own vomit? So that's out. In any case the number of exonerations should be enough reason to abolish the death penalty.
It suppresses your respiratory drive and your body forgets to breathe. It’s respiratory failure.