The Process
•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
•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
•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:
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.