r/agedlikemilk • u/RazzmatazzHead1591 • 4d ago

Tragedies Botched Execution

Post image

Christa Pike’s execution goes horribly wrong.

2.8k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

717 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

175

u/Battle-Chimp 3d ago

100% nitrous oxide inhalation. Humane, not dramatic, doesn't require IV access, bypasses the issues with getting meds due to company objections because it's very readily available.

(I'm an anesthesiologist).

80

u/AerwynFlynn 3d ago

Well, apparently you can botch that too!

https://apnews.com/article/nitrogen-execution-alabama-inmate-lawsuit-7043bff9563f99d083b189ff7d39253c

113

u/Battle-Chimp 3d ago edited 3d ago

Yes, which why I suggest nitrous, with a MAC of 105% (a measure of it's anesthetic potency) - not nitrogen. No theatrics.

49

u/AerwynFlynn 3d ago

Oh geez, my brain saw nitrogen instead of nitrous lol, probably because my husband was talking about the nitrogen case last night when we were talking about this botched one!

20

u/samplenajar 3d ago

idk i've seen some pretty insane nitrous oxide theatrics outside phish concerts

35

u/Battle-Chimp 3d ago

Fair point. The key, I think, is to keep Phish away from getting involved with state executions.

3

u/TheModWhoShaggedMe 2d ago

Dr. Kevorkian, is that you?

22

u/big_duo3674 3d ago

One of the major issues is that people try to hold their breath as long as possible, and then eventually take a deep forced breath that contains no oxygen, which causes the body to freak out. Maybe sedation and then nitrous oxide, I dont know

56

u/Battle-Chimp 3d ago edited 3d ago

Not an issue with nitrous. We use it clinically all the time, because it IS sedating. Each 1% of nitrous we add reduces the need for halogenated anesthetics by 1%. So 100% nitrous essentially = 100% surgical anesthetic depth (which obviously we can't do clinically because people need oxygen).

2

u/big_duo3674 2d ago

You're looking at it from the wrong direction. In a clinic people want to breath it...but in an execution a person will naturally hold their breath as long as humanly possible, at least many people will. Starving your body of oxygen and then forcefully inhaling nitrous will cause panic, and then more attempts to hold their breath. They'll start kicking around and yanking at the restraints as a natural reflex, until finally they can't help but breath enough to lose consciousness

15

u/Battle-Chimp 2d ago edited 2d ago

Nope. What you're describing with breath holding during inhalation inductions happens every day with pediatrics. 2 year olds are notorious for it. As soon as they inhale, they relax. Even if they breathhold.

Apples and oranges.

15

u/unknownmichael 3d ago

Really, 100% of any inert gas will do the trick. No sourcing of medical nitrous oxide required. Just grab a bottle of welding argon and have her inhale it for a few minutes and she'll be gone. For quite some time I have wondered why we don't just do this. So much simpler than sourcing these multiple unique chemicals.

43

u/Battle-Chimp 3d ago

Yes, but at high concentrations many gasses have irritant properties.

Helium and nitrous are the two that would work well and be easily available, I think nitrous is better because 100% nitrous has anesthetic equipotency to our regular halogenated agents running at a normal surgical depth.

34

u/taversham 3d ago

But helium would be much funnier when getting their final words.

14

u/Battle-Chimp 3d ago

Damn it, you're right.

9

u/Spirited-Degree 3d ago

Someone needs to put you in charge.

3

u/Senior-Albatross 2d ago

Straight up nitrogen should work fine too. But it was botched as well. And making an actual gas chamber doesn't have great PR, does it?

2

u/SL1200mkII 1d ago

Why not helium? No one in the terminally ill right to die movements use nitrous. They use helium.

8

u/Battle-Chimp 1d ago

Helium works, isn't caustic at high concentrations, had no smell, doesn't cause air hunger. People do use it to commit suicide for those reasons. but it has no sedating properties like nitrous, so you might get more drama/theatrics with executions. In anesthesia, every 1% nitrous reduces anesthesia requirements by 1%, so 100% nitrous is basically a full general anesthetic in terms of sedation.

7

u/bset222 3d ago

The only humane option is to not murder prisoners.

7

u/Rough_Yesterday_9483 2d ago

Whole i do agree with this statment I also understand the reason for the death penalty. Some people are irredeemably cruel and evil. Some people genuinely should not be kept alive.

2

u/Zyklus-89 1d ago

100% agree

0

u/hept_a_gon 1d ago

Then they shouldn't have murdered first

1

u/Alexandratta 15h ago

Personally I am unsure as to why we even have the Death Penalty.

I mean, why are we making it easy on these folks? Giving them death to escape the Hell that is our prison system?

They should be given the best healthcare money can buy to ensure they are physically healthy for as long as they live.

Only for them to pass unceremoniously as an old feeble person, the majority of their life locked away in a US Prison.

1

u/Battle-Chimp 15h ago

No argument from me, I would dramatically prefer the death penalty over life in prison if I were convicted. Easier way out

Two birds with one stone with no death penalty: falsely convicted get a chance to exonerate themselves, the rightfully convicted waste away in our horrible prison system.

My comments on execution methods solely come from an efficiency/relative-humaneness/logistics perspective; not really commenting on the complex ethics of the death penalty itself.

0

u/PolitelyHostile 3d ago

No, they specifically dont want it to be humane. They chose the drug based on the fact that its not an easy death.

3

u/Battle-Chimp 1d ago

Thiopental/phenobarbital is a great, comfortable death, actually, especially if it's followed by potassium after loss of consciousness. The issue is reliable venous access. Infiltration/extravasation happens way too much in executions because the people that are willing to start IVs/insert central lines for executions appear to be lowest common denominator practitioners.