Painless Execution

A shortage of sodium thiopental, a fast-acting barbiturate and general anesthetic used in lethal injections of death-row convicts, has delayed several executions throughout the U.S. and reignited a long-standing debate over the combination of chemicals used to carry out capital punishment. Most recently, Arizona inmate Jeffrey Landrigan was executed Tuesday night only after a delay caused by a legal battle over the source and quality of the sodium thiopental used as part of the lethal injection.

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com, October 27, 2010

The lethal injection is a  three-drug cocktail consisting of barbituric, paralytic and toxic agents.  Sodium Thiopental is used to induce unconsciousness, purportedly to spare the prisoner pain and suffering from the other two drugs. Pancuronium bromide (Pavulon) is administered second. Pavulon causes paralysis in less than a minute, including the paralysis of respiritory (breathing) muscles. The third drug administered is potassium chloride, which stops the heart, causing cardiac arrest. Beginning at the injection site, potassium chloride can be excruciatingly painful.

The debate is, is  Capital Punishment by lethal injection really quick and painless? If the dose of the short-acting thiopental has diminished by the time potassium chloride is administered, the prisoner will be subjected to unbearable pain, but unable to express it due to being paralyzed by the Pavulon. So far, the FDA has avoided any ruling on the cocktail's efficacy in delivering a merciful death.

© Sujata Khanna. All rights reserved.