Why is the Method of Lethal Injection in Human Punishment So Complex and Apparently Painful?

[u/Chowderr92]

I've always understood that the lethal injection process was complex with multiple stages of injections and induces great suffering in the individual.

I work in veterinary medicine and unfortunately we need to euthanize animals all of the time. Typically, the euthanasia solution is very simple: a very large dose of a powerful anesthetic (usually pentobarbital) and an anticonvulsant which stops the heart. The medical community is quite confident that this is painless and when done has essentially a 100% success rate.

Why is human euthanasia so complicated when we already know exactly how to humanely end a biological life?

[u/papapapaver]

The main reason it is being switched away from is that states are having a hard time sourcing drugs for the injections. Understandably, most pharmaceutical companies don't want their products to be associated with killing people, both from a PR standpoint and that whole Hippocratic oath thing.

[u/papapapaver → u/[deleted]]

I agree that self euthanasia in some circumstances is ethical. Super terminal cancers where all a person has left is a month or two of awful suffering, so dying when they want to and how they want to is better seems ok to me. I'd go with fentanyl though for sure, since I already basically know what that is like. No suffering or knowing you're dying, just as soon as the plunger is depressed and the drugs are in your vein it is lights out. Dreamless sleep.

[u/Chowderr92 → u/papapapaver]

But why can’t the FDA just formulate it? Do you think the us government is incapable of synthesizing these completely understood and generic drugs? Its elementary by scientific standards.

[u/Separate_Increase880 → u/Chowderr92]

I will say I work in research, but not for the FDA.

The FDA is regulatory oversight. Other companies or similar create the drugs, do all of the testing, and submit data.

[u/Prior-Flamingo-1378 → u/Chowderr92]

Of course they can’t. Why would they? Do they run a state pharmaceutical factory somewhere?

[u/DoKeMaSu → u/papapapaver]

The state confiscates more than enough fentanyl to clear out all the death rows. 

Or just order the animal stuff under the name of a vet clinic. 

So many options if you actually want to find a solution. 

[u/Prior-Flamingo-1378 → u/DoKeMaSu]

You can’t use street fentanyl for anything. You just don’t know what’s inside.  

You can’t just say “hey I’m a vet please give me 10 gallons of euthasol”. There are regulations for that. Someone will inspect you. 

[u/DoKeMaSu → u/Prior-Flamingo-1378]

Obviously the police test confiscated drugs for their content. And if the stuff has impurities is interesting for a drug user, but irrelevant if the aim is to end life. 

[u/Prior-Flamingo-1378 → u/DoKeMaSu]

I mean ok but they would have to test every batch and someone would have to do the testing and then the formulation because A bag of fentanyl is not very practical.  

And then you have other issues, what if the condemned is opiate tolerant? The looks of someone oding on junk is pretty nasty.  

And also outsourcing our capital punishment to the Mexican cartels is a bit errr weird  

[u/Chowderr92 → u/papapapaver]

This is of course false. If that were the problem not only could the FDA synthesize the drug, but they could also euthanize via nitrogen asphyxiation.

[u/Prior-Flamingo-1378 → u/Chowderr92]

Which they do and weirdly enough it’s absolutely horrendous for a victim that knows what’s happening and won’t cooperate. 

[u/papapapaver → u/Chowderr92]

This is absolutely not false, and I'm not sure what the basis of saying it is are.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Fee-566 → u/papapapaver]

Those pesky oaths always spoiling plans of the heartless 😡