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Killing convicts with nitrogen is even worse than the lethal injection
Nitrogen hypoxia is the gaseous canister version of a knee on the neck. US states that plan to use it must be stopped.Joel Zivot Physician in anesthesiology and intensive care medicine Published On 22 Sep 2023
Recently, the Department of Corrections of the state of Alabama announced it would try to execute death row prisoner Kenny Smith for a second time, this time with something they call nitrogen hypoxia.
On November 17, 2022, Alabama tried and failed to execute Smith with lethal injection owing to an inability to establish intravenous access.
My own research has shown that death by lethal injection involves choking on your own blood about 80 percent of the time. Yet, as bad as that sounds, execution by nitrogen gas will actually be worse.
Natural breathing is involuntary. It satisfies and fuels the body. Our brain knows when we breathe air but can be tricked briefly when breathing pure nitrogen. The chest rises and falls, the lungs inflate and deflate, but it’s like filling the gas tank with water. The engine seizes up and fails, as will the body. Inhalation of nitrogen gas rapidly empties the body of life, and a person would know they are dying – from the inside out.
Nitrogen is an asphyxiant. It will snuff out a burning candle and extinguish a life by displacing oxygen. Pure nitrogen, when inhaled, will not get you high. It is the gaseous canister version of a knee on the neck.
Two landmark Supreme Court judgments have laid down a requirement that if a prisoner claims a method of execution is unconstitutional because of cruelty, they must name another execution method that is readily available.
Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Alabama have all approved the use of nitrogen gas for execution as an alternative execution method, but no state has ever used it. Until now.
So, when Smith insisted that he didn’t want a second stab of lethal injection, he had to agree to death by nitrogen hypoxia. It’s the kind of morbid choice that only the US ‘justice’ system can conjure up. ...
With nitrogen gas, the gloves are off.
The state has abandoned the pretext of intoxication and replaced it with pure suffocation. What is so maddening about nitrogen hypoxia is, again, the propagation of the illusion of the safety of medicine and science.
Nitrogen is just a bullet in the barrel, but at least with execution by real bullets, all the fakery is gone.
Joel Zivot is a practicing physician in anesthesiology and intensive care medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Zivot is a recognized expert against the use of lethal injection and the tools of medicine for use in the death penalty.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
Killing convicts with nitrogen is even worse than the lethal injection
Nitrogen hypoxia is the gaseous canister version of a knee on the neck. US states that plan to use it must be stopped.
There are two issues here.
- One issue, the ethic of capital punishment. The other:
- The procedure.
This post addresses what Dr. Joel Zivot calls execution by hypoxia.
Some Americans believe the "electric chair" is a humane, painless means of terminating the life of a convict sentenced to death. Turns out, it's not.
BUT !!
Asphyxia claims many victims. It's a known form of suicide, running the car's engine in a closed garage.
Asphyxia can kill quite painlessly, leaving its victims literally unaware they are dying. Examples include running a gasoline-fueled emergency generator indoors, for both electric power during a commercial power failure, and heat, to warm an insulated living space. DON'T DO IT. It's suicidal. BUT !! !!
If it's that painless, is there a rational reason to not use it for capital punishment instead of the electric chair, or lethal injection?
ref:
| capital punishment n. 1. The penalty of death for the commission of a crime. 2. The practice or legal sanction of allowing the imposition of the penalty of death for people convicted of committing certain crimes. hy·pox·i·a  (hī-pŏksē-ə, hĭ-) n.1. Deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching body tissues. 2. Depletion of dissolved oxygen in aquatic environments to levels that are detrimental or fatal to aerobic organisms, often caused by eutrophication. as·phyx·i·a (ăs-fĭksē-ə) n.A condition in which an extreme decrease in the concentration of oxygen in the body accompanied by an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide leads to loss of consciousness or death. Asphyxia can be induced by choking, drowning, electric shock, injury, or the inhalation of toxic gases. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. |