this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024

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219

Alabama calls nitrogen execution method 'painless' and 'humane,' but critics raise doubts (apnews.com)

submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

147 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Alabama, unless stopped by the courts, intends to strap Kenneth Eugene Smith to a gurney Thursday and use a gas mask to replace breathable air with nitrogen, depriving him of oxygen, in the nation’s first execution attempt with the method.

The Alabama attorney general’s office told federal appeals court judges last week that nitrogen hypoxia is “the most painless and humane method of execution known to man.” But what exactly Smith, 58, will feel after the warden switches on the gas is unknown, some doctors and critics say.

“What effect the condemned person will feel from the nitrogen gas itself, no one knows,” Dr. Jeffrey Keller, president of the American College of Correctional Physicians, wrote in an email. “This has never been done before. It is an experimental procedure.”

Keller, who was not involved in developing the Alabama protocol, said the plan is to “eliminate all of the oxygen from the air” that Smith is breathing by replacing it with nitrogen.

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[–] seukari@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago (4 children)

There's a great Jacob Geller video about how methods of execution have evolved and why they've evolved.

I wouldn't do it justice but it points out how every time we make a 'more humane' way of killing it often just reduces the person's ability to show suffering, rather than reducing the suffering itself. In many cases the suffering is increased as we say the method is less barbaric; a firing squad has the highest success rate and likely the fastest death.

I can't recommend this enough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eirR4FHY2YY Piped bot do your thing

[–] turmacar@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

We should abolish the death penalty.

Pretending no one knows what happens when people breathe pure nitrogen until they die is absolutely ludicrous. Especially because what you're breathing right now is mostly nitrogen.

We know what happens because it happens to mine workers and scuba divers and others by accident. It's pretty pain/panic-less, which is normally why it's such a big deal to try and avoid. It's advocated for as a method by right-to-die proponents because it's so painless. Pretending this is random human experimentation just gives leverage to dismiss the entire argument.

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[–] IntheTreetop@lemm.ee 6 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Okay, can someone explain to me why states with capital punishment don't just inject someone with a bunch of morphine and they just go to sleep and never wake up again? I hear all the time about the horrific shit they inject into people and the horrible deaths they suffer, while one easy drug can execute the person with no fuss? I just don't understand.

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[–] the_q@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

I'd die to get out of Alabama too.

[–] trslim@pawb.social 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Ever since watching the Jacob Gellar video about capital punishment, I truly think there is no form of "humane" way of killing someone.

[–] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 2 points 9 months ago

there isn't. There is no good argument for killing anyone. Even a child can grasp "who watches the watchmen."

Sometimes violent people need to be secured from society to prevent pain/suffering/death — we have non lethal methods. And they are cheaper, more accurate, slightly less racist-influenced, and more effective than murder.

A large percentage of death row executions are later exonerated. A large percentage of executions are botched causing undue suffering to victim, executioner, staff and witnesses. The death penalty does nothing to dissuade any crimes from happening.

All it does is give people an excuse to talk tough, "Yeah well I'd kill him with my bare hands."

Sure, Jan.

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