US: Nevada plans execution with never-used-before drug cocktail

[34-dihydroxyphen]

They don't need to keep you under for a long period of time to administer the other drugs in the cocktail, though. It would take maybe 1, 3, or 5 minutes tops.

I believe midazolam would last at least 5 minutes even in the event of a super-metabolizer, etc. unless someone had a bizarre tolerance to the drug from lifelong abuse.

Sekio, or any other pharmacology know-it-alls want to jump in here?

It may be more a matter if just how knocked out one happens to be. The midazolam might be enough to knock someone out for a few minutes or so before they snap back into it, which is probably more likely to occur on the day you have been sentenced to die and are loaded with adrenaline. Also, the paralytic agent is said to be extremely uncomfortable in several regards; who knows whether this wakes one up or not if they are only barely unconscious.

Ultimately, it's the potassium that will likely result in the prisoners death. It'll stop the heart which will result in death very quickly. So, all we need is for them to be unconscious for maybe 10 minutes tops.

But again this depends on if you're worried about what the witnesses see. If that's a concern things get much more complicated.

I think this discussion might benefit if it were clearer what's actually being discussed though. Are we talking about the hypothetical ideal lethal injection? If the current methods are potentially unpleasant? If ALL methods are potentially unpleasant. Does witness experience matter or should it matter? I'm finding it hard to follow where a lot of posts here are actually coming from.

I'm mostly pointing out how terrible the particular method of lethal injection currently used in the US is. It makes no sense to use this combo, unless you maybe want some people to suffer.

 

[aihfl]

I'm mostly pointing out how terrible the particular method of lethal injection currently used in the US is. It makes no sense to use this combo, unless you maybe want some people to suffer.

Statistically, execution by lethal injection have been botched the most, followed by poison gas, hanging, electrocution and firing squad (0). The botched execution of Clayton Lockett in Oklahoma only used 100mg of midazolam, whereas Florida used 500mg. I believe lethal injection has found acceptance because it appears to be a sanitized medical procedure, but I think it's been made amply clear that there is no pleasant way to take a life. Lockett's execution took almost an hour and had to be stopped before he finally succumbed to a heart attack and in Florida, the execution of Angel Nieves Diaz also took about an hour with extra drugs having to be administered. Everyone reacts to drugs differently, but if the state is going to be in the business of killing people, everyone reacts to a bullet the same way.

 

[S.J.B.]

Some people are conscious during surgery because they're trying to not kill you with the anesthesia. Demerol is an incredibly weak opiate and I'm surprised they wouldn't have put morphine or fentanyl in instead.

When I got my wisdom teeth taken out they put me under with morphine, fentanyl, and midazolam. I actually woke up briefly at one point but I was so high that I didn't care at all that a surgery was going on in my mouth.