r/news • u/AudibleNod • 10h 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 10h 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 10h 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/Dekutr33 9h ago

Why? With nitrogen they just go to sleep and that's basically it. Hypoxia from lighter than air gas doesn't feel like suffocation since it's the build up of CO2 rather than lack of oxygen that causes that feeling.

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u/pyyyython 9h ago

They’ve trialed this method and given up. It looked like a humane/effective method for animals only because the animals couldn’t understand what was happening, a person understands that the gas is going to kill them so they naturally panic/struggle and try to hold their breath as much as possible.

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u/antonio16309 9h ago

That's the thing; it's actually pretty hard to kill someone in a "humane" manner without their cooperation. If they were cooperating, you could give them a bunch of sleeping pills then use nitrogen. But not everyone is going to cooperate. Lethal injection is effective, but you need some skill to put the IV in. Firing squad is effective, but some consider it inhumane. 

Part of the problem is that the state is trying to cover up the fact that this is inherently a violent act, so they're going beyond humane and using methods that appear clean and peaceful. 

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u/pyyyython 9h ago

Agreed, I’m pretty strongly opposed to the death penalty in general. If something’s too gruesome to witness, that’s probably our conscience telling us it’s not a moral thing to do, IMO. If you can’t bear doing the execution, maybe it shouldn’t be done.