Lethal injection is inhumane, say researchers.Prisoners killed by lethal injection may be conscious and may experience excruciating pain and burning sensations while they asphyxiate as·phyx·i·ate v. To induce asphyxia. as·phyx  i·a tion n. , according to a new report.
"The design of the lethal-drug scheme itself is flawed," say Leonidas Koniaris of the University of Miami This article is about the university in Coral Gables, Florida. For the university in Oxford, Ohio, see Miami University. The University of Miami (also known as Miami of Florida,[2] UM,[3] or just The U and his colleagues in the April PLoS Medicine. The researchers point to low postmortem postmortem /post·mor·tem/ (post-mort´im) performed or occurring after death. post·mor·tem adj. Relating to or occurring during the period after death. n. See autopsy. blood concentrations of sedatives and several reports of prisoners who required a second round of injections. No ethical board or oversight group has ever evaluated the three-drug cocktail used by the federal government and by most of the 37 states that execute prisoners, say the researchers. The cocktail includes the barbiturate barbiturate (bärbĭch`ərāt'), any one of a group of drugs that act as depressants on the central nervous system. High doses depress both nerve and muscle activity and inhibit oxygen consumption in the tissues. sodium thiopental, the paralytic paralytic /par·a·lyt·ic/ (par?ah-lit´ik) 1. affected with or pertaining to paralysis. 2. a person affected with paralysis. par·a·lyt·ic adj. 1. pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride to stop the heart. Oklahoma's state medical examiner concocted the mix in 1977 as a more humane alternative to electrocution electrocution Method of execution in which the condemned person is subjected to a heavy charge of electric current. The prisoner is shackled into a wired chair, and electrodes are fastened to the head and one leg so that the current will flow through the body. . But insufficient sodium thiopental might leave the prisoner aware as the other two drugs take effect, the researchers say, violating the United States Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel punishment. The authors based their report on information from North Carolina and California. The two states that execute the most prisoners, Texas and Virginia, refused to participate in the research. Since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976, 891 prisoners have been executed by lethal injection.--B.V. |
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