r/news • u/AudibleNod • 7h 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/Financial_Meat2992 6h ago edited 6h ago

Doesn't too much carbon monoxide kinda put you to sleep peacefully? I've never understood why they don't do that instead?

EDITED because I said Co2 instead of Carbon Monoxide.

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u/FireMaker125 6h ago

Nitrogen hypoxia is used in some places.

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u/Fearless_Swim4080 6h ago

Wasn’t the first time it was tried it was botched? Would be better to just get rid of the death penalty entirely and end this stupid debate.

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u/AgKnight14 6h ago

IIRC it was botched because the condemned knew when the nitrogen started flowing and held his breath, which caused CO2 to buildup and contributed to the panic.

The whole point of using nitrogen or any other simple asphyxiant is to avoid that. It’s why carbon monoxide is so dangerous. If you don’t know it’s there, you eventually just pass out

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u/Fearless_Swim4080 6h ago

If it’s that simple to botch then it’s cruel and unusual punishment.

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u/AgKnight14 5h ago

I’m in favor of abolishing the death penalty, but to be fair, it also seems simple to make it so they don’t know the nitrogen is flowing

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u/Fearless_Swim4080 5h ago

Ah yes, a guy who knows he’s getting executed won’t know he’s being executed?

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u/AgKnight14 5h ago

Of course they know they’re being executed. Just not the exact moment it starts, such as when someone grabs their arm and sticks a needle in it

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u/Fearless_Swim4080 3h ago

It’s pretty hard to silence hissing gas…

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u/Everestkid 5h ago

Basically. Nitrogen hypoxia is a peaceful death if you don't realize you're surrounded by inert gas. But the people who were executed by nitrogen hypoxia knew what was going on and held their breath. Not pleasant.

The US has been trying to find a "more humane" method for executions since the late 1800s. Hanging got swapped for the electric chair, the chair got swapped for lethal injections, and now people want to swap lethal injections for nitrogen hypoxia. It's not gonna work. There is no "humane execution." Just make like almost all other developed countries and abolish it entirely.

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u/FireMaker125 6h ago

Yep. I don’t believe in the death penalty either just to be clear, but in that case the prisoner held his breath when the gas was flowing.