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Thread: Hopping into the "way back" machine . . .

  1. #1
    Moderator mostlyclassics's Avatar
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    Hopping into the "way back" machine . . .

    Lethal injection states are having great problems obtaining either pentobarbital. Or else theiy can't get suitable injectible anesthetics for the first ingredient of their three-drug protocols.

    Way back in the Dark Ages of anesthesiology in 1953 when I had my tonsils removed, the anesthesiologist hit me first with nitrous oxide and then ether. The combination knocked me into the middle of next Tuesday. No other anesthetic was needed.

    Why can't the three-drug states replace the unobtanium first drug with mask-delivered nitrous oxide and then ether, before administering the paralytic and the heart stopper?

    Nitrous oxide and ether are both freely available from a multitude of sources.

    Granted, they'd have to super-glue the mask to the condemned's face after he/she makes his last statement. And they'd have to equip execution chambers with strong exhaust fans, since proximity to either of those gases can make people giddy.

    Just something to contemplate . . .

  2. #2
    Senior Member Frequent Poster Fact's Avatar
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    The problem with any type of death by asphyxia is that the condemned individual will try to hold their breath. When people were executed by hydrogen cyanide, the condemned were instructed to take deep breaths, which didn't happen. They tended to hold their and created grotesque spectacles where they would foam at the mouth, convulse, and turn purple. You'd have to figure out a way that such a scenario wouldn't happen.

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    Moderator mostlyclassics's Avatar
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    Fact, I think the executioners could employ the same tests for consciousness that Florida and other three-drug states use now.

    After they've established that the condemned is, indeed, out cold, then they can signal for the paralytic and, finally, the heart-stopper to be administered.

    The nitrous oxide plus ether protocol would not kill the condemned (except maybe by accident). It would just knock them out, and thus perform the same function as midazolam does in those states' current protocol.

    Finally, the foaming at the mouth, convulsions and turning purple are common symptoms of cyanide poisoning, not just from the condemned holding their breath.

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