Why not death by firing squad?

[BrilloPad]

BBC News - America's 'inexorably' botched executions

[tractor]

...

BBC News - America's 'inexorably' botched executions

It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that some states 'botch' them on purpose just to extract the max punishment they can. It is America after all.

[barrydidit]

Or use anaesthetic prior to administering whatever lethal dose they've settled on. Can't be that difficult.

[pjclarke]

Or use anaesthetic prior to administering whatever lethal dose they've settled on. Can't be that difficult.

They do.

HTH.

[quackhandle]

Give them Ebola in a sealed room?

Seems to be a fair bit of it about.

qh

[Eirikur]

What I don't understand is that as euthanasia is legal in several US States, why don't they use whatever they use?
Or even the stuff that they use to put dogs to sleep.
Alternatively it would be a good excuse to test new chemical weapons

[barrydidit]

They do.

HTH.

So whats all the fuss about? You can saw peoples legs off when they're under anaesthetic without them noticing.

[quackhandle]

Victim's family grease a few palms to the people involved.

Yeah "botched" read: "Make 'em suffer!"

qh

[pjclarke]

So whats all the fuss about? You can saw peoples legs off when they're under anaesthetic without them noticing.

I know, it's a puzzler, my experience of anaesthetists is that they can judge a dose accurately to produce any desired effect from mild analgesia thru to complete coma. You'd think a gradually-increasing dose of intravenous smack would do it. Seems to see off enough junkies/singers/actors in a humane, even pleasurable way.

Didn't Aldous Huxley request LSD to ease his passing ....?

[NickFitz]

What I don't understand is that as euthanasia is legal in several US States, why don't they use whatever they use?
Or even the stuff that they use to put dogs to sleep.
Alternatively it would be a good excuse to test new chemical weapons

I know, it's a puzzler, my experience of anaesthetists is that they can judge a dose accurately to produce any desired effect from mild analgesia thru to complete coma. You'd think a gradually-increasing dose of intravenous smack would do it. Seems to see off enough junkies/singers/actors in a humane, even pleasurable way.

Didn't Aldous Huxley request LSD to ease his passing ....?

The pharmaceutical companies refuse to sell them the drugs for the purpose of performing executions.

Oh, and LSD was legal when Huxley died, on 22 November 1963 - it wasn't made illegal in the USA until 1966, IIRC. Also, it in no way contributed to his death: there is no known lethal dose of LSD, nor any evidence that it has any notable physiological effects at all, never mind harmful ones. Huxley knew he was on the verge of dying when he requested it. It "eased his passing" by helping him to fully enjoy his last few hours, not by hastening it.