Execution protocol in the US state of Missouri allows for “surgery without anaesthesia” if the typical process of finding a suitable vein to inject the lethal drug doesn’t work, lawyers for a death row inmate say in an appeal aimed at sparing his life.
Brian Dorsey, 52, is scheduled for execution on Tuesday for killing his cousin and her husband at their central Missouri home in 2006. His attorneys are seeking clemency from Gov. Mike Parson and have several appeals pending.
A federal court appeal focuses on how Missouri injects the fatal dose of pentobarbital. The written protocol calls for the insertion of primary and secondary intravenous lines. But it offers no guidance on how far the execution team can go to find a suitable vein, leaving open the possibility of an invasive “cutdown procedure,” Dorsey’s attorneys say.
Anybody who is prepared to do that is a psychopath and needs to be in the cell next to him.
I agree. They definitely shouldn’t be working in medicine, either.
They probably aren’t, at least not really. They certainly aren’t doctors, as it is a clear violation of the Hippocratic Oath. The whole process of lethal injection is cosplaying as medicine.
That fucking dumb. It’s not humane in the slightest.
Why not have a backup method, like the spike that shoots into the skull and injects high pressure air to scramble the brain? Could be done in a millisecond, death would occur before the brain had any time to register pain.
Or let them live another day and then randomly fill their room with nitrogen while they sleep.
Or better yet, just let them die of old age. It costs less than putting them to death anyway.
The nitrogen method has already proven to be less than foolproof. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2024/02/19/alabama-execution-nitrogen-gas-witness-cruel-torture/72616304007/
They used a mask that leaked, and the subject was aware of and resisted the nitrogen asphyxiation. He, and his lawyer also argued for the nitrogen method after a previous lethal injection with a cutdown procedure failed.
My opinion regarding the death penalty is that if it needs it exist, then the guillotine is probably the best way to carry it out. It’s 100% effective, requires little skill on the executioner’s part to use, and causes death extremely quickly with minimal suffering.
Taking someone’s life is inherently violent, and it is cowardice to try to hide that fact. People claim that capital punishment exists to scare people into following the law. Well, what’s more terrifying than a guillotine?
And how is the US doing with scaring people into not murdering by having capital punishment?
Great. Just great.
Terribly! But if people can’t be convinced to abolish it, the next best thing is to do this.
@NateNate60 I’d rather the few countries that still have it abolished it, but I agree that if they’re going to have it, it should be more humane than this.
From the article:
The procedure involves an incision that could be several inches wide and several inches deep. Forceps are used to tear tissue away from a vein that becomes the injection point. “It’s surgery,” said Arin Brenner, a federal public defender and one of the attorneys representing Dorsey. “It would be surgery without anaesthesia.”
I did read the article. Dear God, just shoot the man. Have some mercy
Agreed, that would be more humane than this. It’s not one of the states that allows firing squads though.
reading that made me physically ill
Why guillotine and not some sort of gas like nitrogen or carbon monoxide?
The primary argument for why capital punishment is kept around in the US is to terrify people into not committing crimes.
The guillotine is a classic terrifying death machine while still being more humane than other, more modern techniques. It’s also difficult to fuck up and cheap to administer.
That would be a stupid argument because it’s not true. It doesn’t work that way. Why should decisions about the methods be based on falsehoods?
