Once I'd exhausted readily-available web resources, I'd call prisons where lethal injection is administered (which I would find through more diligent googling). I would also contact one or more anti-death penalty advocacy group, on the theory that those groups will be a) eager to talk to me and b) chock full of vivid details that I might not get from official prison sources.
btw "how stuff works" cracks me up. the list of "frequent searches" on the right listed the top three as: bounty hunting, creationism, and dreams. what's not to love?
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Yeah...it varies a lot from state to state and from year to year.
For lethal injection, they tie you down to a "table" (usually more of an articulated reclining chair) and have a couple of doctors give you injections. Only one injection contains the lethal agent, which could be just about any sedative. That's the basics (I don't know why they use doctors, it seems rather hypocritic). Execution rooms usually have an observation window so the witnesses can see without getting in the way. Lethal injection rooms have a decidedly...disinfectable design. I don't know why.
But details vary even from one facility to the next.
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The irony of the doctor swabbing the injection site with alcohol before administering the lethal dose always throws me. The excution rooms are not designed for disinfectability as much as easy cleanup for the living participants. Death is a messy process.
quote:For lethal injection, they tie you down to a "table" (usually more of an articulated reclining chair) and have a couple of doctors give you injections.
Depending on the state, they might not be doctors. Some places, the only doctor present is the one to confirm the condemned is actually dead.
California recently had to delay an execution because none of the doctors present would sedate the condemned. California recently decided it might be inhumane to inject someone with a lethal injection since it might be painful. So the judge ordered the condemned to be put to sleep before the injection. The doctors decided that their oaths prevented them from preparing someone for iminint execution. Since they couldnt put the guy to sleep they had to stay the execution.
The Califorina method is a three part with 1 being a sedative and the next two being a cocktial that stops your heart.
Which is why no doctors could be found. Apparently ethically its one thing to overdose someone but quite another to outright purposely stop a person's heart.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
