All medical witnesses to describe pulmonary edema agreed it was painful, both physically and emotionally, inducing a sense of drowning and the attendant panic and terror, much as would occur with the torture tactic known as waterboarding. Tags: Lethal Injection.
Related Resources. Recent News. More news. Popularized during the French Revolution as a humane alternative to ax beheadings, the guillotine was last used in France in , when convicted murderer Hamida Djandoubi was executed in Marseilles. Death is not instantaneous but it may be as close as executioners get. A Dutch study on lab rats found the animals lost consciousness within four seconds and brain death occurred in a minute.
Just three prisoners have been executed by firing squad since capital punishment was brought back in In , Utah murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner, who chose the method over lethal injection, was pronounced dead two minutes after four bullets pierced the target over his heart.
The last electrocution was in Virginia in when Robert Gleason Jr. In , child killer Daryl Holton was pronounced dead in Tennessee after two second jolts with second pause in between.
For the Media. For Educators. Fact Sheet. Executions Lethal Injection Though lethal injection has been used for a majority of the executions carried out in the modern era, it is plagued by problematic executions and controversy.
Supreme Court. Perhaps surprisingly, though, there is still no consensus on the exact combination of drugs and dosages to use for the lethal injection. The drug midazolam — a sedative used by several states to cause unconsciousness — has proved so controversial that, in , Alabama inmate Thomas D Arthur asked to be executed by firing squad. The Supreme Court denied the appeal, and Arthur was executed by lethal injection in May In Arkansas, the lethal injection comprises three chemicals: midazolam, to sedate; vecuronium bromide, to paralyse the muscles; and potassium chloride, to stop the heart.
Each of these is delivered at a dose that could theoretically kill the inmate; however, each drug has drawbacks. At the time of execution, the inmate is strapped to a gurney, and IV tubes are inserted into both arms. The Arkansas procedure uses two IV sites. This is partly to protect against 'vein failure'. The first drug given to the inmate is midazolam, a sedative, which is administered to render the inmate unconscious and prevent them from feeling any suffering. Midazolam is a benzodiazepine.
At low doses it has an anti-anxiety effect. At around 10mg, it knocks the inmate unconscious. On death row in Arkansas, the dose is mg. The drug travels up the arm via the bloodstream to the brain. Within seconds, the inmate starts to black out. It has been alleged, however, that some inmates who received midazolam have appeared to regain consciousness mid-execution.
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