5 ms·

The way we do lethal injection is weird and over-engineered anyway. They use three chemicals to do what we routinely do to dogs with one, and even then it coul

by 13of40 10y ago

The way we do lethal injection is weird and over-engineered anyway. They use three chemicals to do what we routinely do to dogs with one, and even then it could be done quite humanely with just a sealed room and a tank of nitrogen.

ams6110 10y ago
Or carbon monoxide. Odorless, undetectable, the body thinks it's oxygen so there's no sense of being asphyxiated.
- TylerE 10y ago
  Carbon monoxide isn't ideal as it causes headaches. Don't need a sealed room either. A good sealing mask is more than enough - as is used in surgery.
- masklinn 10y ago
  > Or carbon monoxide You don't even need CO, any inert gas other than CO2 will do as long as you remove the oxygen (nitrogen is convenient as the atmosphere is already mostly nitrogen) > the body thinks it's oxygen so there's no sense of being asphyxiated. CO does compete with O2 which kills you, but the reason the body doesn't react is it basically doesn't react to anything other than CO2 blood levels. You can asphyxiate with argon, butane, nitrogen, helium, krypton, etc… and not realise it as long as CO2 partial pressure doesn't rise.
  - Plasmoid 10y ago
    CO is dangerous because you don't need to remove the O2 from a room to be lethal. All the other gases cause asphyxiation by taking the place of oxygen in the air. So once you leave the room, you'll be fine. CO is dangerous because it takes the place of oxygen in the blood and it has a stronger attraction to hemoglobin than oxygen. So get enough CO in your blood and your organs suffocate, even if you are put in a pure O2 environment right away.
    - masklinn 10y ago
      > CO is dangerous because you don't need to remove the O2 from a room to be lethal. Which is relevant… how? The thread isn't about CO poisoning compared to other modes of asphyxiation.
- rwmj 10y ago
  Carbon dioxide is probably "better". There is an interesting (and I think rather controversial) BBC documentary on this presented by a former Conservative MP. I don't have a link to it, but you can search for "Michael Portillo How to kill a human being".
  - masklinn 10y ago
    Carbon dioxide is terrible for this, blood CO2 (or blood acidity really) is what the body reacts to to decide it's suffocating, hypercapnia is a horrible thing to die from.
brador 10y ago
It's weird to discuss humanity when you're talking about taking someones life without their consent as an act of revenge. Also it could be argued the guillotine is more humane since the death is instant. The chemical injections just feel "cleaner" since the executioners wearing a lab coat.
- pen2l 10y ago
  Death isn't instant when done with guillotine I think, rather you're alive and alert for 13 or so seconds http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/thefrenchrevolution/a/dyk10.htm http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/thefrenchrevolution/a/dy...
  - 13of40 10y ago
    There's also the whole bit where you know for a long time in advance that you're going to get your head hacked off by a machine versus just laying down and going to sleep.
- adventured 10y ago
  No, chemical injections feel cleaner because they are. Chop someone's head off with a guillotine and see how much blood comes out of the body.
erikpukinskis 10y ago
Another poster referenced Michael Portillo's documentary on the subject. He did extensive research into different methods of humane euthanasia, and landed where you did. However, his conclusion after asking why it wasn't done that way is that people actually do want convicts to suffer.
hanniabu 10y ago
Serious question, what would happen if in a room of nitrogen? Would you get the giggles, pass out, and eventually suffocate unconsciously?
- abduhl 10y ago
  The body notices "suffocation" through detecting carbon dioxide levels. Simply replacing oxygen with another inert gas (like nitrogen) does not trigger the suffocation response in the body and so you essentially just exhale all of your oxygen and go hypoxic. People react differently to hypoxia, some people just pass out while others get the giggles before they pass out. Then you die. You would not even know it is happening most likely. This is why confined spaces are so dangerous and governed so strictly by OSHA. A lot of times you will pass out within one or two breaths if you inhale something with very low oxygen levels (<15%) and then you die and anyone who follows you in to rescue you dies.
tomschlick 10y ago
Or a few bullets.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
amelius 10y ago
If morphine overdose can be used to euthanize, why can't it be used in death penalty executions? Interesting discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yaqa1/if_morphine_overdose_can_be_used_to_euthanize_why/ https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yaqa1/i...

by 13of40 10y ago

ams6110 10y ago

Or carbon monoxide. Odorless, undetectable, the body thinks it's oxygen so there's no sense of being asphyxiated.

TylerE 10y ago
Carbon monoxide isn't ideal as it causes headaches. Don't need a sealed room either. A good sealing mask is more than enough - as is used in surgery.
masklinn 10y ago
> Or carbon monoxide You don't even need CO, any inert gas other than CO2 will do as long as you remove the oxygen (nitrogen is convenient as the atmosphere is already mostly nitrogen) > the body thinks it's oxygen so there's no sense of being asphyxiated. CO does compete with O2 which kills you, but the reason the body doesn't react is it basically doesn't react to anything other than CO2 blood levels. You can asphyxiate with argon, butane, nitrogen, helium, krypton, etc… and not realise it as long as CO2 partial pressure doesn't rise.
- Plasmoid 10y ago
  CO is dangerous because you don't need to remove the O2 from a room to be lethal. All the other gases cause asphyxiation by taking the place of oxygen in the air. So once you leave the room, you'll be fine. CO is dangerous because it takes the place of oxygen in the blood and it has a stronger attraction to hemoglobin than oxygen. So get enough CO in your blood and your organs suffocate, even if you are put in a pure O2 environment right away.
  - masklinn 10y ago
    > CO is dangerous because you don't need to remove the O2 from a room to be lethal. Which is relevant… how? The thread isn't about CO poisoning compared to other modes of asphyxiation.
rwmj 10y ago
Carbon dioxide is probably "better". There is an interesting (and I think rather controversial) BBC documentary on this presented by a former Conservative MP. I don't have a link to it, but you can search for "Michael Portillo How to kill a human being".
- masklinn 10y ago
  Carbon dioxide is terrible for this, blood CO2 (or blood acidity really) is what the body reacts to to decide it's suffocating, hypercapnia is a horrible thing to die from.

brador 10y ago

It's weird to discuss humanity when you're talking about taking someones life without their consent as an act of revenge. Also it could be argued the guillotine is more humane since the death is instant. The chemical injections just feel "cleaner" since the executioners wearing a lab coat.

pen2l 10y ago
Death isn't instant when done with guillotine I think, rather you're alive and alert for 13 or so seconds http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/thefrenchrevolution/a/dyk10.htm http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/thefrenchrevolution/a/dy...
- 13of40 10y ago
  There's also the whole bit where you know for a long time in advance that you're going to get your head hacked off by a machine versus just laying down and going to sleep.
adventured 10y ago
No, chemical injections feel cleaner because they are. Chop someone's head off with a guillotine and see how much blood comes out of the body.

erikpukinskis 10y ago

Another poster referenced Michael Portillo's documentary on the subject. He did extensive research into different methods of humane euthanasia, and landed where you did. However, his conclusion after asking why it wasn't done that way is that people actually do want convicts to suffer.

hanniabu 10y ago

Serious question, what would happen if in a room of nitrogen? Would you get the giggles, pass out, and eventually suffocate unconsciously?

abduhl 10y ago
The body notices "suffocation" through detecting carbon dioxide levels. Simply replacing oxygen with another inert gas (like nitrogen) does not trigger the suffocation response in the body and so you essentially just exhale all of your oxygen and go hypoxic. People react differently to hypoxia, some people just pass out while others get the giggles before they pass out. Then you die. You would not even know it is happening most likely. This is why confined spaces are so dangerous and governed so strictly by OSHA. A lot of times you will pass out within one or two breaths if you inhale something with very low oxygen levels (<15%) and then you die and anyone who follows you in to rescue you dies.

tomschlick 10y ago

Or a few bullets.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

amelius 10y ago

If morphine overdose can be used to euthanize, why can't it be used in death penalty executions? Interesting discussion here: https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yaqa1/if_morphine_overdose_can_be_used_to_euthanize_why/ https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/1yaqa1/i...