U.S. lethal injection hearings begin

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Whether the use of lethal injections on death row inmates is cruel and inhumane was before the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington.

The administration of a series of three drugs to execute prisoners is being challenged by two Kentucky death row inmates who claim it is cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Whether executions overall are constitutional isn't being debated before the court Monday, The Chicago Tribune reported from Washington. Rather, the question is whether the combination of chemicals unnecessary pain and suffering and if it should be adjusted to produce a more efficient poison.

The lawsuits were filed after two executions in 2006 were reported. The first was of Angel Diaz in Florida, who took more than 20 minutes to die. The second was Joseph Clark in Ohio, who doctors said was conscious for more than an hour before dying.

A total of 37 states use lethal injection in carrying out death penalities.

Source - UPI

Execution by Lethal Injection Is Not Humane or Painless

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Lethal injection is the most common way people are legally put to death in the USA. It has eclipsed all other methods of execution because of public perception that the process is relatively humane and does not violate the US Constitution's Eight Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. Anaesthesia during lethal injection is essential to minimise suffering and preserve public opinion that lethal injection is a near-painless death. Lethal injection generally consists of the sequential administration of sodium thiopental for anaesthesia, pancuronium bromide to induce paralysis, and finally potassium chloride to stop the heart and cause death. Without anaesthesia the person would experience suffocation and excruciating pain without being able to move.

Leonidas Koniaris (University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, USA) and colleagues analysed protocol information from the states of Texas and Virginia, where around 45% of executions are done. They found that executioners-typically one to three emergency medical technicians or medical corpsmen*-had no training in anaesthesia, drugs were administered remotely with no monitoring of anaesthesia and there were no data collection, documentation of anaesthesia, or post-procedure peer review.

Dr Koniaris states: "Our data suggest that anaesthesia methods in lethal injection in the US are flawed. Failures in protocol design, implementation, monitoring and review might have led to unnecessary suffering of at least some of those executed. Because participation of doctors in protocol design or execution is ethically prohibited, adequate anaesthesia cannot be certain. Therefore to prevent unnecessary cruelty and suffering, cessation and public review of lethal injection is warranted."

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"Capital punishment is not only an atrocity, but also a stain on the record of the world's most powerful democracy. Doctors should not be in the job of killing. Those who do participate in this barbaric act are shameful examples of how a profession has allowed its values to be corrupted by state violence."

(2005) Lancet - Medical News Today - Read Full Text