Is it? I hear people say that the death penalty is inhumane, but when people say that, do they just mean the electric chair, or not?

Killing someone is inhumane.

Thou shall not and all that stuff still apply.

If you're talking about lethal injection as a form of capital punishment, that's one thing. Opinions differ and to the recipient it might well be considered inhumane. However, lethal injection for the purpose of mercifully terminating someone's suffering; euthanasia - which is legal in several parts of the world and one of these United States, that seems very humane to me. Just so long as it is voluntarily entered into and regulated compassionately. IMO.

quote:

Originally posted by aminator2002:
Killing someone is inhumane.

Thou shall not and all that stuff still apply.

Hmm, I guess that's true actually. Ending a criminal's life is somewhat barbaric way of dealing with criminals, I suppose. Although even if it's inhumane, there's still a way to be humane about it. Lethal injection is definitely more humane than the electric chair. I doubt many people would disagree there. Anyway, that answered my question. I didn't realize those people meant that killing is what's inhumane.

There has been a case before the supreme court testing specifically whether lethal injection is "cruel and inhuman punishment." I believe the court recently made a ruling that cleared the way for the case to be adjudicated in some way, as opposed to actually deciding the case.

The specific issue, as I understand it, is this: lethal injection generally involves the sequential injection of three types of drugs. One to induce unconsciousness, one to paralyze the muscles (aimed, of course, at breathing), and one to stop the heart. If there's an error in dosage, response to dosage, or proper sequence, the person (funny: at first I'd typed "patient") could be paralyzed and unable to indicate pain, while having the heart-stopper (high concentration of potassium, which is very painful as it passes up the veins), going in. I don't know the specifics of how the drugs are set up and administered. I'm pretty sure it's done by people other than physicians. Nor do I know of cases where it's happened that way and if so, how it was discerned. But that's what it's about.

We touched on some of this in an earlier AP discussion on lethal injection. Some of the grisly details of capital punishment can be found in this article from New England Journal of Medicine.

The three drugs described by Sid for lethal injection are given in doses around 10-20 times the usual clinical doses. It's hard to imagine that five grams of Sodium Pentothal -- even in the biggest, baddest human beings on earth -- would be insufficient to produce complete unconsciousness during the rest of the execution sequence.

One of the "cruel and unusual" scenarios has to do with difficulty establishing an intravenous line in the first place. Many drug abusers, for instance, have notoriously difficult iv access (most of their veins having been sclerosed by years of shooting up). They may require painful procedures for emplacement of an iv line in order to carry out the rest execution.

Still, if you accept capital punishment as morally defensible, then lethal injection is as humane as any method I can imagine. Though come to think of it, the guillotine doesn't seem so bad -- it's quick, easy, and painless.

quote:

Although even if it's inhumane, there's still a way to be humane about it.

There's no humane way about premeditated killing. You can't decide to kill inhumanely, but then sprinkle it with sugar, and then say, "oh, the sugar will make it humane".

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Originally posted by honilov:
There's no humane way about premeditated killing. You can't decide to kill inhumanely, but then sprinkle it with sugar, and then say, "oh, the sugar will make it humane".

Ok I see what you're saying. I guess there can be no true humane way of killing, but if you were to compare knocking someone out and poisoning them to electricuting them, knocking them out and poisoing would be the more humane choice, right?

Thanks for the bunch of information, Prof and Sid. I think I looked over something in that old thread once, but I didn't get to look through it all the way. Thanks for reposting.

And I agree with the professor -- and have wondered if there have in fact been instances where it was thought to be an issue -- that the dose of pentothal given is such that it's hard to imagine it not achieving the effect. I suppose there could be concern that someone would give the drugs in the wrong order: paralytic, potassium, and then pentothal. Don't know to what extent the concern is based on actual occurances.