LETHAL INJECTIONS AND SANITATION

LETHAL INJECTIONS AND SANITATION

I always wonder why in the films whenever they're about to kill some one by lethal injection, do they rub a cotton ball with alcohol on the spot they will poke them with the death stick. I mean, it baffles me that this is actually something that happens in real life. Wouldn't want you to get an infection when we poke you with your last needle.

Anyhow, aside from that sort of oddness, I have to wonder why the whole concept of lethal injections seems so complicated to the point that many prisons had so much issues with them either not working or even getting the proper ones that are approved. You think that the amount of drug choices is vast out there that a combination would be a quick and humane way to take someone out but then again here we are. Odd since we seem to humanely put down pets all the time.


Maybe it has to do with the fact that we can't find prison workers who are experts at things like IV access or medication administration for whatever reason, but I think it's just a strange situation all around. I guess the problem I face is that maybe I'm making the assumption that they want to be humane at all. We view inmates as a sort of not human, and even to the point that they don't deserve that three hot and a cot that our tax dollars provide them, and if they're on death row waiting for a needle injection, then they aren't even animals worth worrying about how they get put down.

Perhaps the best way to solve all this is to just flat out ban the death penalty altogether. But then again, that isn't going to happen because we live in a society that regardless if their life guide book says an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, they still want that sweet sweet taste of vengeance towards anyone who committed a crime.

Let's face it, if they didn't want people to suffer during the whole process, they'd just have tthem inhale some inert gas for a while and go out like a sleeping baby. the whole concept of the lethal injection is both to be the means of execution and to have a tad bit of torture tossed into the mix.

And torture them pretty efficient if you ask me... 

The state had used pentobarbital, a barbituate, but manufacturers have largely stopped selling the drug to anyone using it for executions.

In January, the Tennessee Department of Correction adopted a new protocol for lethal injections, relying on a three-drug mixture intended to put an offender to sleep before stopping the lungs and heart.

In practice, executions using the drugs in other states left offenders in clear, protracted agony, if not alive. During executions in Oklahoma, Arizona, Ohio and elsewhere, midazolam — the drug intended to render the offender unconscious — failed to work.

Tennessee corrections officials knew this could be a problem, according to documents obtained by the USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee that are also cited in the lawsuit. In September, a supplier noted potential problems with midazolam in an email to Tennessee prison officials in

"Here is my concern with midazolam...it does not elicit strong analgesic effects. The subjects may be able to feel pain from the administration of the second and third drugs. Potassium chloride especially," wrote the supplier in an email.

"It may not be a huge concern but can open the door to some scrutiny on your end."

The second drug in the mixture, vecuronium bromide , essentially paralyzes the offender. That means the offender would still be conscious but potentially appear as though they are not feeling pain.

That is really some fucked up shit. If I actually believed in an afterlife at all, but just wasn't sure about the details of said place, I would have some concerns about entering it in a pure state of agony. I mean, I'm sure the mind, at that point, just zones you the fuck out of there and you're in a blissful state of nirvana forgetting everything because of the levels of pain your body and mind are going through. 

So we land on the simple fact that they just don't care or they just don't want to because they enjoy inflicting an agonizing death upon someone who they see as guilty of a sinful act. That because their actions are officially sanctioned with no legal ramifications, they are above it all. Then again, you probably can't expect Arkansas to figure out concepts like "science" and "decency", and I'm pretty foolish for even thinking I should.

I just don't get why we still use sodium thiopental and potassium chloride to kill people when they could do a lot better by just pumping them full of morphine or fentanyl. I know Nevada was working on a fentanyl system to kill someone. Hell, just pump them full of what the dentist gave me when I had my wisdom teeth pulled out. I was happily out of it and was not aware of the dentist jack hammering into my jaw. You probably could have slit my throat while I was doped up and I would have never known and just slipped away.

So in short, I'm anti death penalty, mainly because it cost a lot more to kill someone than to just lock them up for life. On top of that, it's not really conducive to a civilized society to do so. But if we're going to be barbaric, at least can we class it up some?