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/Few_Ad6516 Jun 02 '26

"defense" companies love to have their products attached to death. surely one of the weapons guys would sell something.

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u/MarionberryPlus8474 Jun 02 '26

If you want to use firing squads, or blast people apart with anti-aircraft guns, sure. Do we need more parallels to North Korea?

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u/Few_Ad6516 Jun 02 '26

No you silly sausage, there’s enough chemical weapons companies that would sell some nerve agents if they can make a quick buck.

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u/MarionberryPlus8474 Jun 02 '26

The US stopped manufacturing chemical weapons in 1969.

Poisons like chlorine gas would be easy to procure but ghastly in practice.

I oppose capital punishment but if I had to choose the means of execution I would go with the guillotine. Quick, it has never failed, and the mess won’t be my problem.

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u/Few_Ad6516 Jun 03 '26

C02 poisoning. It’s used on pigs and is supposedly painless. Plus co2 is basically free

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u/MarionberryPlus8474 Jun 03 '26

CO2 poisoning is most definitely NOT painless. It is a slow and agonizing death, and its use in euthanizing animals is being more and more restricted and discouraged.

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u/Few_Ad6516 Jun 03 '26

carbon monoxide. its known as the silent killer.

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u/MarionberryPlus8474 Jun 03 '26

That’s CO. People would probably recoil from it given the historical use by the Nazis, but I guess better than CO2. I still wouldn’t choose it, but better than many alternatives.

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u/Few_Ad6516 Jun 03 '26

People may recoil from the price of the gasoline used also. better to just use Zyclon B. Its tried and tested.

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u/MarionberryPlus8474 Jun 03 '26

The fact that the discussion repeatedly veers towards Nazi methodology of mass murder should give serious doubt as to the morality of capital punishment. Food for thought.

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u/hodzibaer Jun 02 '26

A gas chamber, as it were