--------------------------- Welcome back to Bad Things in History,
where we make you feel better about yourself in comparison with much of the rest of humanity.
Or maybe we make you feel awful to be a human. Or maybe you don t feel a thing in the face of
history s horrors, in which case maybe one day you ll do something covered in an episode.
Speaking of which . What is the most efficient
and painless way to end a person s life?
This question has occupied the minds of political and social leaders for centuries. As technology
changes and as societies evolve, the answer to this question becomes increasingly elusive.
The modern world is especially sensitive to public displays of suffering and death.
And that is part of the reason why most criminals today are executed with powerful drugs.
Today we are going to look at the history of lethal injection.
-------------------------- Birth Of an Idea
In the 19th century criminals that were executed in the United States and Europe
could meet their end in a variety of ways. The condemned could be beheaded though that was rare.
Most likely a person would meet death from hanging. Being killed with a bullet was also
common. And by the late 1800s electrocution was becoming a new and attractive option.
Governments as well as those in the medical community were becoming concerned about the
issues that occurred when criminals were killed.
For instance, death by hanging should be nearly instantaneous. In practice mistakes
frequently led to the condemned prisoner suffocating for several minutes.
Firing squads should, in theory, be highly effective. But those carrying out the sentence
could miss the target. Then the prisoner may slowly bleed out and die over several
minutes instead of meeting death right away. Julius Mount Bleyer was a doctor in New York. He
specialized in treating issues with the throat. He also had a deep interest in how medicine and the
law worked together. In 1888 Julius was assigned to a commission to study capital punishment.
Julius examined executions from all over the world. He wanted to explain
what was wrong with current methods and propose a more humane way to kill.
He provided one example of a failed hanging from England:
Last winter in England a condemned man was on the scaffold: the last word had been spoken,
the bolt was drawn, but the drop did not fall. The convict was removed, the apparatus was tested,
and again the intended victim was put in position. A second and a third time did the drop fail to act
when released, and then the poor fellow, who had thrice looked death calmly in the face, fainted
and was carried back to his cell. His sentence was commuted, and the people said Amen.
Julius Mount Bleyer also went on to say that electrocution may be
painless. Nobody knew for sure at the time since it had only been tested
on dogs and rabbits. But he was sure there was an easier way to kill convicted killers.
Julius suggested that they should be injected with a fatal amount of morphine.
Using this method, the prisoner would simply fall asleep then stop breathing. If it didn t work the
first time just inject more. The death would be quick, easy, and shouldn t disturb spectators.
It would be almost one hundred years before
this became the standard way to eliminate criminals.
Nazi Germany would soon prove how effective it could be.
Involuntary Euthanasia In the early 20th century medicine as a profession
was not always ethical by today s standards. It was a common belief at the time that people
who were disabled should not reproduce. Several countries, including the United States and Canada,
even had laws that required people with certain disabilities to be forcibly sterilized.
In the 1930s Hitler decided that depriving the disabled of children wasn t enough.
It was cheaper for everyone if these people were simply killed instead.
Thus, the Aktion T4 campaign was started in late 1939.
Karl Brandt was Hitler s doctor. He was also given the job of killing the handicapped.
The first case involved two parents who sent a petition to the government. They wanted their
son to be killed as an act of mercy. Hitler told Karl to give them their wish.
At first the Nazis used gas to kill. It was cheap and convenient. But as the campaign to eliminate
social undesirables progressed the German doctors started killing more and more children. After all,
the easiest way to prevent disabled adults from reproducing is to not let them grow up.
As with most things the Nazis created a system with brutal efficiency.
They created several extermination centers at existing psychiatric hospitals. The parents
of disabled children were then notified that their children needed to be taken to a place for
Special Treatment . Once the parents surrendered their children, they would receive death
certificates in return days or weeks later. The cause of death was usually listed as pneumonia.
In reality doctors were killing these children by injecting toxic chemicals into their veins.
Most of the time they used phenol. Phenol is a chemical used in creating plastics.
It can also be used as an anaesthetic. Nazis chose to use it because it s cheap to manufacture.
Parents started to realize what was happening and quit sending their children voluntarily.
The Nazis responded with more forceful methods. By 1941 over five thousand children
had been killed by lethal injection. It would be comforting to think that
the staff at these hospitals only carried out executions because Hitler forced them to do it.
But the last child to be killed was in Bavaria on May 29, 1945. Allied troops had occupied
the town three weeks before. Despite the fact they chose to
kill defenseless children the Nazis did prove that lethal injection was extremely effective.
By the 1980s the United States thought this method might deserve another chance.
Chapman s Protocol For much of the 20th century the United States
used electrocution to kill criminals. But it wasn t as fast and painless as advocates had claimed.
It could take several tries to kill a person. And even when it worked
the sights and smells could induce vomiting among spectators.
Jay Chapman was a physician and the chief medical examiner for the state of Oklahoma.
He decided to propose a less painful method of execution. This method used a specific approach
to administer a lethal injection. It became known as Chapman s protocol.
Jay Chapman suggested the following: "An intravenous saline drip shall be
started in the prisoner's arm, into which shall be introduced a lethal injection
consisting of an ultrashort-acting barbiturate in combination with a chemical paralytic."
The Oklahoma State legislature passed a bill adopting lethal injection.
By 2004 at least thirty-seven states adopted similar protocols. For the most part criminals in
the United States today are killed with drugs. When a prisoner is executed, it begins with the
condemned being strapped to a gurney. Then an intravenous line is inserted into each arm.
Only one is needed to deliver the drugs. The second line is used as a backup in case
something goes wrong with the first one. The intravenous line going into the prisoner
s arm is connected to another line in a nearby room.
Before inserting any of the lines the needles are sterilized, and the injection sites are cleaned.
People may wonder why this is done since the goal is to kill the prisoner.
The reason is because it is possible to receive a stay of execution.
In that case prison officials wouldn t want an infection to occur that could later kill
the prisoner. The procedure also protects prison officials in case they are stuck by a needle.
Once everything is set up correctly a saline drip is started in both arms.
This is mostly done to make sure the lines are working correctly. When it looks like
fluids are flowing properly then a heart monitor is attached to the prisoner.
Three separate injections are given to end the person s life.
The first render s the victim unconscious within a few seconds. The second drug is a
muscle relaxer. It causes the diaphragm to relax which in turn keeps the prisoner from breathing.
The third drug increases potassium in the blood which in turn causes the heart to stop.
In theory a prisoner should die quickly and without pain. But as with most execution
methods reality is usually much different. Although doctors created the protocol they
refuse to participate in executions. Unlike their counterparts from one hundred years ago
the medical profession today takes ethics seriously. This means that prison officials
with inadequate medical training are usually the ones giving injections.
When it works as planned the prisoner goes to sleep.
About seven minutes later the heart stops and the execution is over.
In Ohio in 2006 the execution of prisoner Joseph Lewis Clark
took an hour and a half because there were issues finding his veins.
They again had a problem executing Christopher Newton in 2007. Christopher was overweight and
prison officials couldn t get the lines inserted into his veins properly either. It took over two
hours and ten attempts before they were finally able to kill him successfully.
Ohio attempted to address its problems with lethal injection by moving to a single drug protocol.
Instead of three separate injections they now use one large dose of barbiturates to cause death.
This was first used in 2011 and worked as planned.
It has been difficult for states to carry out executions in the past decade. Several companies
that produce the drugs used to kill prisoners refuse to sell them to prison officials. Doctors
refuse to assist in any way. As a result, some prisons are now killing the condemned with drugs
that are normally reserved to euthanize pets. In addition to the United States several other
countries still use lethal injection. The most notable are China and Vietnam.
China uses a single injection to kill prisoners.
Vietnam was using a three injection protocol. Once they had difficulty acquiring drugs the
country switched to shooting prisoners, or using other available poisons.
Is execution by lethal injection really more humane than other options?
Many opponents believe it is not.
Cruel And Unusual If medical professionals were supervising
lethal injections, then it might be the most humane method for killing. But since prison
officials are the ones who carry out a death sentence the required expertise is not there.
Opponents to lethal injection claim that the incompetence of those who carry out executions is
why the method is really an act of cruelty. As mentioned previously, sometimes a prisoner
can be stuck with large needles again and again for over an hour as attempts are made to find a
suitable vein. When the drugs are finally given, there is no oversight to make sure it s in the
correct amount. Prisoners are not monitored to see if the drugs work as intended.
Only medical professionals have the skills required to monitor patients that closely.
So, it simply isn t possible for those who work in prisons to ever implement lethal
injection correctly all the time. Experiencing numerous puncture wounds
could be the most pleasant part of the experience when lethal injection goes wrong.
In 2005 researchers from the University of Miami examined drug concentrations in executed prisoners
to see if it worked as intended. The researchers found that in
eighty-eight percent of the executed prisoners the sedative levels in their blood were
lower than that required for surgery. Forty-three percent had levels so low that they were probably
completely aware of what was happening. The injection site where the drugs are delivered
would cause extreme pain to victims who were conscious. As the muscles were paralyzed and the
condemned began to suffocate there would be panic and anxiety. But since the prisoner can t move
spectators wouldn t notice. Finally, the drug that caused the
heart to stop would also be very painful as it triggered a fatal heart attack.
Although opponents to lethal injection claim it is too cruel and shouldn t be used the courts have
not been convinced. Several states continue to use this method of execution today.
-------------------------------- Lethal injection is just one more
example of the conflicting nature of humanity. While promoting the idea of humane treatment,
medical science unleashed a more efficient way to kill. And when doctors realized it
wasn t ethical to participate, they left it in untrained and incompetent hands.
Is there a perfect way to humanely and painlessly kill those sentenced
to death? If so, it hasn t been found yet. The quest undoubtedly continues.
What do you think about lethal injection? Tell us in the comments below if you feel like sharing.
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Thank you for watching Bad Things in History. --------------------------