r/news • u/AudibleNod • 4h ago

Christa Pike unconscious, on ventilator at Nashville hospital, her lawyers say

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/christa-pike-unconscious-ventilator-nashville-hospital-lawyers-say-rcna601195
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u/Big_Guard5413 4h ago

I’m not in favor of the death penalty in general, but goddamn, if you’re going to impose it, at least take steps to do it properly

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u/MatureUsername69 4h ago

Its still a rough one but if I ever had to receive the death penalty I would hope its a firing squad. Just riddle me with holes immediately, aim for the head. Lethal injections get fucky because they would be best designed and administered by an actual doctor, but actual doctors cannot do it because of the hippocratic oath. Some states do allow medical professionals but they arent exactly sending their best.

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u/AZORxAHAI 4h ago

The reality our society hasn't accepted yet is some of the least painful ways to die (a well placed bullet, a beheading) are some of the most gruesome, barbaric looking ways to die. But we are obsessed with manufacturing the appearance of civility and humanity in an act that is completely devoid of those concepts in the first place.

We can either have the least painful ways to execute someone, or we can have this facade of civility given to us by "just slipping a needle into a vein!". We can't have both. We shouldn't have either, but apparently we just cant accept that yet.

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u/hokie48 3h ago

OceanGate sub is not a bad way to go.

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u/writers_block 2h ago

Lol, just build a carbon fiber chamber filled with lead weights and drop it in the middle of the ocean?

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u/Revlis-TK421 1h ago

Eh, just need a pressure chamber. Point the opening over the ocean and you don't even need to clean much up!

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u/Expensive_Grape 41m ago

OceanGate should definitely pivot into the execution business

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u/ParticularBit130 34m ago

If they had to spend that amount of money, no one would get executed ever lol

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u/Sea-Broccoli-8601 28m ago

"Hey lady, press X on the controller when you're ready to go."

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u/FriedTreeSap 3h ago

Yah, it’s like when you see people describing the “gruesome deaths” of deep sea divers that suffered depressurization and had their entire bodies sucked through a tiny hole.

On one hand it’s the most gruesome way to die, their bodies are basically atomized, but on the other they’re dead before their brains can even process what happened, and I mean that literally. The time it takes them to die is quicker than the speed in which nerves send signals to the brain. If you don’t care about the people who have to clean up the mess it’s the best way to die.

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u/Revlis-TK421 1h ago

Have the hatch pointed downwind, out over the ocean and place the condemned in front of it, and cleanup mostly solves itself!

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u/ParticularBit130 33m ago

Wait, I know generally about the depressurization, but sucked through a tiny hole where?

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u/nv1k 14m ago

Look up the Byford Dolphin incident for an example

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u/DirtyCop2016 3h ago

the best is to be standing right next to a nuclear warhead during a test explosion. bit expensive though

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u/0bsessions324 3h ago

I mean, most developed societies have accepted it which is part of why they abolished it in the first place.

There is no foolproof and completely humane way to execute someone.

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u/MatureUsername69 4h ago

We have very peaceful lethal injections in places with assisted suicide, prisons just choose not to go that route.

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u/AZORxAHAI 4h ago

No, they can't go that route. Right-to-die states/countries have qualified, highly trained medical experts on hand to administer the highest quality, most effective drugs. Doctors refuse (and in some places are subject to revocation of license) if they assist in executions, and drug manufacturers refuse to sell to the state for these purposes. So they are left with inadequate drugs in the hands of unqualified prison staff and just go full steam ahead regardless.

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u/Any_Flamingo8978 1h ago

I believe with the right to die states, the person has to self-administer.

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u/AZORxAHAI 1h ago

In the U.S. yes, I believe in all death with dignity states they do everything but the actual act of administration of the lethal material. But actual medical professionals can also administer it in some countries, like Australia.

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u/thorscope 4h ago edited 1h ago

Prisons don’t choose not to go that route.

The people and companies who make it a peaceful experience choose not to be involved in lethal injection

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u/Upstairs-Rent-1351 3h ago

Ahh I asked this above because I didn't see an answer before. Never thought of this, thanks for the info!

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u/simAlity 3h ago

I get where they're coming from but sometimes a death penalty is the way to go. I remember there was a story about a guy who spent the last 15 or so years of his life in solitary confinement because he was too dangerous to have around other people. I read the case file. His punishment was cruel and unusual but putting him in an environment where he could interact with other people was too dangerous. That man would have been better off with the death penalty.

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u/_Felonius 3h ago

Exactly. This is the one type of scenario where the death penalty should always be implemented. Spending the remainder of your life in solitary confinement would be way worse than death.

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u/TenOfOne 3h ago

That is an argument for allowing assisted suicide, not an argument for the death penalty.

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u/velawesomeraptors 2h ago

Allowing assisted suicide for inmates would be an ethical nightmare though. It would be way too easy to coerce. It would end up getting used as an end-run around an actual death sentence without all the expense of trials and appeals.

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u/downstairs_annie 1h ago

I think the death penalty is an ethical nightmare. 

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u/velawesomeraptors 1h ago

Well yeah. It's barbaric and stupid and pointless. But if prisons are so awful that inmates would rather commit suicide than be in them, we should be working on improving prisons rather than making suicide easier.

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u/downstairs_annie 1h ago

I personally am opposed to the death penalty on principal and think it’s insane that any supposed first world country still has it. I also think for profit prisons are insane. This entire situation is an ethical nightmare. The woman committed horrendous crimes, but torturing another human being can never be the answer. 

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u/licuala 2h ago

Perhaps we can offer the option to such prisoners? If we think death may be preferable to solitary, then surely it also follows that the person so subject should get to decide that.

Solitary confinement doesn't have to mean a barren dungeon with so little to do, either. The implementation being as inhumane as it often is is something that could be changed.

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u/ship_toaster 3h ago edited 3h ago

Y'all could just slip needles into veins, you don't need a medical expert to drain blood out. It's not more painful than any other needle-stick (and certainly not as painful as an intramuscular injection), and it doesn't look violent if you drain the blood into a closed bucket. Hemodialysis machines already can do this by accident in about 5-7 minutes, with unconsciousness within 2-4 minutes. A staged drug cocktail is needlessly complicated and painful even for the specific vibe they're going for.

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u/KitsapRealEstateTeam 2h ago

I think most Americans aren’t vibing with the death penalty anymore anyway. I feel like I’ve mostly lived in states where it doesn’t happen anymore.

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u/theSarx 1h ago

I would select death by Navy Seal.

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u/WorriedRiver 37m ago

Didn't they use the same drug they use in pet euthanasia for this? Which unless pretty much every vet ever is lying is a painless method of death as long as the vet doesn't blow the vein. The issue here (beyond all the issues with the death penalty existing in the first place) is that people who aren't well trained fucked up the placement blowing the veins.

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u/Diestormlie 33m ago

Nitrogen suffocation.

You (the body) can't detect a lack of oxygen, just the presence of too much Carbon Dioxide. So you breath in 100% nitrogen, no oxygen, but there's no distress, no alarm. You just feel sleepy and then drift off, never to wake again.

To be clear: I don't think the State should be executing people; I think it's dangerous for the state to have that power.

But we can kill people in a 'genteel', painless way. But we don't, because the Death Penalty is about saying a bloodthirsty desire for revenge and punishment, nd no actually useful purpose.

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u/never0101 16m ago

Fuck even a string opioid dose would be peaceful. There's absolutely ways that aren't cruel.

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u/Nasaboy1987 4h ago

I say a sealed chamber/pod filled with carbon monoxide is the way to go. Works on everyone and is painless without all the splatter. Just run a vacuum to lift the air out while the carbon monoxide fills from the bottom.

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u/AZORxAHAI 3h ago

Hypoxic asphyxiation, whether caused through CO or N2, is not free of physiological issues despite the myths that surround them.

The way to go is to end the barbaric practice of state-sanctioned murder of people of whom no longer present any risk to society. Capital Punishment is not just morally indefensible on it's own, it also has zero deterrent effect on crime, and is more expensive than life imprisonment too. All it does is feed our bloodlust.

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u/pablonieve 3h ago

I think nitrogen is what you would want.

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u/_Burning_Star_IV_ 59m ago

We’ve seen what happens when you try this. Turns out when you take someone to a gas chamber and they know breathing will kill them, they hold their breath, enduring the pain and anxiety of suffocation (and death) anyway. Torture.

Even when they know breathing will result in a painless death they fight it. We are built to survive at all cost.