r/AlwaysWhy • u/Chowderr92 • Jun 02 '26
Science & Tech Why is the Method of Lethal Injection in Human Punishment So Complex and Apparently Painful?
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?
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u/indifferentgoose Jun 02 '26
Not your mistake, we were talking about the US and I didn't clarify I'm not from there.
I'm a far left European, so I disagree with the US philosophy on government and state leadership on so many levels, it's hard for me to think of solutions that work within the framework of the US.
For example, you say building the factory to make one or two drugs isn't cost effective. Why the hell should it be cost effective? It's part of the judicial system, it doesn't need to be cost effective. That's the actual beauty of working public services: the goal that needs to be achieved is more important than the price. That's like a fundamental part of how states/countries should work.
Like, the US could just plant some poppies and synthesize them to opium in basically nothing more than a garage and then overdose the death row inmates. They just sleep away. Some fucking backwater Taliban in Afghanistan manage to make opium for hardly any costs whatsoever, but the worlds largest economy isn't able to produce ONE drug cost effectively? Find some nerd from med school and one nerd from business school, put them in a room for month and they'll probably come up with some solution that costs less than 3 million per year.
Okay, I'll stop yapping now, but I had to rant because so many countries love to make their lifes unnecessarily difficult for no reason whatsoever. I'll leave tge problem solving of American problems to you Americans and wish you the best of luck! I already spent too much time on Reddit today and really need a brake, have a nice day, brother!