Lethal Injection
Lethal injection can cause excruciating pain. Since the first lethal injection on December 7, 1982, over 900 prisoners in the USA have been executed by this method and it has all but replaced other methods of execution.
» Execution by Lethal Injection: A Quarter Century of State Killing
» Read the statement by AIUSA Executive Director Larry Cox
» Take Action!
» Help get more signatures! Download the petition
» Lethal Injection Web-Based Clearinghouse (a project of the Berkeley Law Death Penalty Clinic ... now includes amicus briefs filed for Baze v. Rees)
» Health Professional Participation in Executions in State Laws
Lethal injection kit © AI
- The Process
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- The prisoner is bound to a gurney; two needles are inserted into the prisoner's veins and a saline solution is injected.
- Sodium thiopental, an anesthetic, is injected to put the prisoner to sleep.
- Pavulon, or pancuronium bromide, is released, inducing paralysis and stopping breathing.
- Finally, the flow of potassium chloride stops the heart. This chemical can cause excruciating pain if the prisoner is still conscious.
- The Potential Problems
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- The prisoner resists and delays establishment of an intravenous line.
- The execution team is not able to find a suitable vein.
- The mixture or composition of drugs is wrong.
- The direction of flow of the injection is wrong.
- The chemicals are directed into tissue rather than a vein.
- The prisoner does not react normally to the drugs.
- The Results
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- If not rendered unconscious, the inmate will feel excruciating pain; if paralyzed by the pancuronium bromide, the inmate will be unable to show this pain.
- Some executions have lasted between 20 minutes to over an hour and prisoners have been seen gasping for air, grimacing and convulsing during executions.
- Autopsies have shown severe, foot long chemical burns to the skin and needles have been found in soft tissue.
- CONCERNS:
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Misunderstanding the cruel, inhuman and degrading nature of the death penalty.
By focusing on a presumed reduction in pain suffered during lethal injection, proponents of this method disregard the suffering inflicted on prisoners throughout the entire death penalty process.
The involvement of health personnel in executions.
Virtually all codes of professional ethics which consider the death penalty oppose health professional participation. Despite this, health professionals are required by law in many death penalty states to assist executions and in some cases have carried out the killings.
The potential for physical suffering
A number of lethal injections in the USA have been botched and caused visible suffering. In addition, a number of recent court challenges have been based on inherent potential problems with the method, notably that the use of a paralysing agent in the lethal mixture could mask any suffering caused by the execution.
Not a humane mixture for euthanizing animals.
Because of the potential for masking pain, the American Veterinary Medical Association has rejected the use of paralyzing agents like pancuronium bromide in animal euthanasia. In states like Tennessee and Texas pancuronium bromide is banned for use on animals; yet it continues to be used on humans.
- Statements of U.S. Health Professional Associations on Participation in Executions
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- American Medical Association: A physician, as a member of a profession dedicated to preserving life when there is hope of doing so, should not be a participant in a legally authorized execution.
- American Nurses Association: The American Nurses Association (ANA) is strongly opposed to nurse participation in capital punishment. Participation in executions is viewed as contrary to the fundamental goals and ethical traditions of the profession. (Summary, login required to view full statement)
- American College of Physicians: Participation by physicians in the execution of prisoners except to certify death is unethical.
- American Public Health Association: The APHA publicly reaffirm its March 1994 collaborative statement to all health professional societies and state licensing and discipline boards that health professional participation in executions or pre-execution procedures is a serious violation of ethical codes and should be grounds for active disciplinary proceedings including expulsion from society membership and license revocation.
- National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians: The National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT) is strongly opposed to participation in capital punishment by an EMT, Paramedic or other emergency medical professional. Participation in executions is viewed as contrary to the fundamental goals and ethical obligations of emergency medical services.
- American Society of Anesthesiologists: Although lethal injection mimics certain technical aspects of the practice of anesthesia, capital punishment in any form is not the practice of medicine ... ASA continues to agree with the position of the American Medical Association on physician involvement in capital punishment. ASA strongly discourages participation by anesthesiologists in executions. (emphasis in original)
- Society of Correctional Physicians: The correctional health professional shall ... Not be involved in any aspect of execution of the death penalty.
