Lethal Injection Research Articles

Dr. Death? Professionalism, Virtue, and U.S. Physician Participation in the Death Penalty

In the United States at present, the death penalty is a possible sentence in 31 out of 50 states, as well as within the military and for federal cases. In the U.S., numbers of executions are declining, in part due to moratoriums in place and challenges to execution by lethal injection. Participation by physicians in lethal injection executions has been steadfastly viewed by professional medical organizations as contrary to their ethical standards. However, physicians have participated in lethal injection executions, and the morality of the death penalty itself is a matter of intense social and political debate. Medical ethics commentators and professional organizations have typically held that the prohibition on physician participation in the death penalty is independent of the ethical status of the death penalty itself. This article argues that this view is untenable, and that it is tied to a view of professional role virtue that is similarly untenable. At the same time, it argues that, given the morally uncertain status of the death penalty, it is plausible that virtuous physicians may either refuse or choose to participate in some aspects of the death penalty.

Nurse participation in legal executions: An ethics round-table discussion.

A paper was published in 2003 discussing the ethics of nurses participating in executions by inserting the intravenous line for lethal injections and providing care until death. This paper was circulated on an international email list of senior nurses and academics to engender discussion. From that discussion, several people agreed to contribute to a paper expressing their own thoughts and feelings about the ethics of nurses participating in executions in countries where capital punishment is legal. While a range of opinions were presented, these opinions fell into two main themes. The first of these included reflections on the philosophical obligations of nurses as caregivers who support those in times of great need, including condemned prisoners at the end of life. The second theme encompassed the notion that no nurse ever should participate in the active taking of life, in line with the codes of ethics of various nursing organisations. This range of opinions suggests the complexity of this issue and the need for further public discussion.

Poison injection in AHWR calandria: Flow pattern and mixing characteristics

In Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR), two active, independent, functionally diverse, fast acting shut down systems are used. Shut Down System-1 (SDS-1) consists of mechanical shut off rods and Shut Down System-2 (SDS-2) based on liquid poison injection into the moderator. Gadolinium nitrate solution, which acts as neutronic poison, is injected in heavy water moderator through a set of nozzles located inside calandria vessel. This poison injection into moderator inside calandria is expected to take place in a very short time to shut down the reactor. As SDS-2 is critical for the safety of plant, detailed knowledge of poison distribution in calandria is required.CFD analysis using OpenFOAM has been carried out for high pressure poison injection of Shut Down System-2 of AHWR for various design options. Validation of CFD model is performed by experimental measurements. Experiments are performed for impulsively started poison jet in a 1/3.3 scaled and full-scale experimental facilities with array of tubes. In particular, the growth of poison jet is measured experimentally and CFD simulations are performed. An excellent agreement is found between CFD simulations and experimental data. CFD simulation shows that the poison covers a major portion of active core in 2s time. In addition to this, effect of moderator flow and heat generation in moderator on poison distribution has also been studied.

Characterization of the protective immune response to Yersinia pseudotuberculosis infection in mice vaccinated with an LcrV-secreting strain of Lactococcus lactis

BackgroundPseudotuberculosis is an infection caused by the bacterial enteropathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis and is considered to be a significant problem in veterinary medicine. We previously found that intranasal administration of a recombinant Lactococcus lactis strain that secretes the low-calcium response V (LcrV) antigen from Y. pseudotuberculosis (Ll-LcrV) confers protection against a lethal Y. pseudotuberculosis infection. Here, we aimed at characterizing the immunological basis of this LcrV-elicited protective response and at determining the duration of vaccine-induced immunity. MethodsSplenocytes from BALB/c mice intranasally immunized with Ll-LcrV or Ll as control were immunostained then analyzed by flow cytometry. Protection against a lethal intravenous injection of Y. pseudotuberculosis was also determined (i) in immunized BALB/c mice depleted or not of CD4+, CD8+ or CD25+ cells and (ii) in naïve BALB/c mice receiving serum from immunized mice by counting the number of bacteria in liver and spleen. Lastly, survival rate of immunized BALB/c mice following a lethal intravenous injection of Y. pseudotuberculosis was followed up to 9-months. ResultsWe found that T and B lymphocytes but not non-conventional lymphoid cells were affected by Ll-LcrV immunization. We also observed that depletion of CD4+ and CD25+ but not CD8+ cells in immunized mice eradicated protection against a lethal systemic Y. pseudotuberculosis infection, suggesting that activated CD4+ T lymphocytes are required for vaccine-induced protection. Adoptive transfer of LcrV-specific antibodies from Ll-LcrV-immunized animals significantly reduced the bacterial counts in the liver compared to non-vaccinated mice. Lastly, the protective immunity conferred by Ll-LcrV decreased slightly over time; nevertheless almost 60% of the mice survived a lethal bacterial challenge at 9months post-vaccination. ConclusionMucosal vaccination of mice with Ll-LcrV induced cell- and antibody-mediated protective immunity against Y. pseudotuberculosis infection in the mouse and the protection is long-lasting.

The Original Meaning of 'Cruel'

This Article demonstrates that the word “cruel” in the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause means “unjustly harsh,” not “motivated by cruel intent.” The word refers to the effect of the punishment, not the intent of the punisher. In prior articles, I have shown that the word “unusual” means “contrary to long usage,” and thus a punishment is cruel and unusual if its effects are unjustly harsh in light of longstanding prior practice.This Article solves several important problems plaguing the Supreme Court’s Eighth Amendment jurisprudence. First, it clarifies the Eighth Amendment’s intent requirement. To violate the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause, some government official must possess intent to punish but not necessarily intent to punish cruelly. Second, it demonstrates how to determine whether a given punishment is so harsh that it violates the Eighth Amendment. The question is not whether a punishment is unjustly harsh in the abstract but whether it is unjustly harsh in comparison to the traditional punishment practices it has replaced. Third, it shows how to sort between those unintended effects of punishment that may properly be considered part of the punishment and those that may not. If a given punishment heightens the risk of severe, unjustified harm significantly beyond the baseline risk established by longstanding prior practice, it is cruel and unusual. Finally, this Article establishes that the core purpose of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause is to prevent unjust suffering, not the coarsening of public sensibilities. Historically, governmental efforts to protect public sensibilities by making punishment less transparent have increased the risk that the offender will experience undetected cruel suffering. When the government undertakes such efforts, it should bear the burden to show that they do not significantly increase this risk.The original meaning of the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause calls into question the constitutionality of several current punishment practices, including lengthy prison sentences for certain offenses, long-term solitary confinement, the three-drug lethal injection protocol, and certain prison conditions, to name a few.

Deconstructing Death: Derrida and the Scene of Execution

I would like to begin with a rather spectacular vision of the death penalty, one that brings together, with great irony, the death penalty, the possibility but also the impossibility of its abolition, and the 'American spirit'. Here is that vision:I would like to see a law passed which would abolish capital punishment, except for those states which insisted on keeping it. Such states would then be allowed to kill criminals provided that the killing is not impersonal but personal and a public spectacle: to wit that the executioner be more or less the same size and weight as the criminal (the law could here specify the limits) and that they fight to death using no weapons, or weapons not capable of killing at a distance. Thus, knives or broken bottles would be acceptable. Guns would not.The benefit of this law is that it might return us to moral responsibility. The killer would carry the other man's death in his psyche. The audience, in turn, would experience a sense of tragedy, since the executioners, highly trained for this, would almost always win. In the flabby American spirit there is a buried sadist who finds the bullfight contemptible - what he really desires are gladiators. Since nothing is worse for a country than repressed sadism, this method of execution would offer ventilation for the more cancerous emotions of the American public.1The author of this fight-club-phantasy - this unadulterated AmericanGladiators-meets-Thunderdome scenario - is Norman Mailer. The same Norman Mailer who would, some twenty years later, go on to write the Pulitzer Prize-winning 'true life story' The Executioner's Song (1979), which depicts in 1109 pages the events surrounding the execution of Gary Gilmore by the state of Utah in 1977 (Gary Gilmore was the first person executed in the United States after the re-instatement of the death penalty in 1976). 'The Executioner's Song' is, of course, also the title of a 1982 NBC film starring Tommy Lee Jones and Rosanna Arquette.2But before the book, and before the movie, Mailer wrote a short article, titled 'A Program for the Nation', from which I have just quoted an excerpt. This article was written in response to a survey from Esquire magazine in 1959,3 in which 150 famous people were queried about the 1960 U.S. Presidential election: 'What, to your mind, should be the most important issues in the election' (Presidential Papers, p10)?Now if I turn to Mailer's program for the nation here, it is not only because he addresses capital punishment as an important, presidential issue. It is also because he insists on the scene of execution in America. There is a scene, says Mailer, that is not being seen: a hidden and invisible and perhaps even disavowed scene. This scene, says Mailer, must be made visible; it must be literally seen (this is his irony). America must see what it refuses to see: the scene of execution. What Mailer goes on to describe, however, is a rather unAmerican scene: no lethal injection here (or to put it less anachronistically: no hanging, no electric chair, no gas chamber here). Instead Mailer stages his American scene of execution as an epic historical drama, as an archaic and sadistic scene.Indeed, what Mailer's phantasy makes visible is not only a Roman scene. It is also a second (or even third) scene, which is really a kind of primal scene: 'In the flabby American spirit there is a buried sadist who finds the bullfight contemptible - what he really desires are gladiators'. In the deep, dark, fleshy recesses of the American soul lies a desire that is older, younger, more primitive, more archaic than a desire for (European) bullfights. It's a desire for cutting weapons and a desire for human, rather than animal, sacrifice. Thus, Mailer's insistence on the scene of capital punishment leads him, as it were, behind the scene(s), to the scene's latent structure: 'Since nothing is worse for a country than repressed sadism, this method of execution would offer ventilation for the more cancerous emotions of the American public'. …

Clinically relevant timing of antenatal sildenafil treatment reduces pulmonary vascular remodeling in congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Patients with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) suffer from severe pulmonary hypertension attributable to altered development of the pulmonary vasculature, which is often resistant to vasodilator therapy. Present treatment starts postnatally even though significant differences in the pulmonary vasculature are already present early during pregnancy. We examined the effects of prenatal treatment with the phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor sildenafil on pulmonary vascular development in experimental CDH starting at a clinically relevant time. The well-established, nitrofen-induced CDH rodent model was treated daily with 100 mg/kg sildenafil from day 17.5 until day 20.5 of gestation (E17.5-20.5). Importantly, this timing perfectly corresponds to the developmental stage of the lung at 20 wk of human gestation, when CDH is detectable by 2D-ultrasonography and/or MRI. At E21.5 pups were delivered by caesarean section and euthanized by lethal injection of pentobarbital. The lungs were isolated and subsequently analyzed using immunostaining, real-time PCR, and volume measurements. Prenatal treatment with sildenafil improved lung morphology and attenuated vascular remodeling with reduced muscularization of the smaller vessels. Pulmonary vascular volume was not affected by sildenafil treatment. We show that prenatal treatment with sildenafil within a clinically relevant period improves pulmonary vascular development in an experimental CDH model. This may have important implications for the management of this disease and related pulmonary vascular diseases in human.

The Standard of Proof of Intellectual Disability in Georgia

Despite being the first state to abolish the capital punishment of defendants with intellectual disability (ID), Georgia is currently the only state to uphold what is considered to be the most stringent standard of proof of ID in the United States: beyond a reasonable doubt. Other states have implemented less stringent standards of proof (i.e., a preponderance of the evidence and clear and convincing evidence). Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the execution of persons with ID unconstitutional in the 2002 Atkins decision, states are at this juncture considered to have a great deal of discretion in defining what constitutes ID. In addition to raising concerns about the Eighth Amendment’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment, variation between state-determined definitions of ID raises important questions of equal protection of the law. On January 27, 2015, Mr. Warren Lee Hill was executed by method of lethal injection in the state of Georgia after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Mr. Hill’s claim to have met the state’s legal definition of ID beyond a reasonable doubt. This article provides a historical and legislative background for the case of Warren Lee Hill, while examining the definitions of ID (including adaptive functioning) in the legal and clinical arenas. Last, this article will take a critical stance with regard to the current diagnostic criteria being used in the state of Georgia.

SUNTIK MATI (EUTHANASIA) DITINJAU DARI ASPEK HUKUM PIDANA DAN HAK ASASI MANUSIA DI INDONESIA

Euthanasia problem has existed since the health system faces an incurable disease, while the patient is dying and torture. In such situations, it is not uncommon patient begged to be released from this suffering and did not want an extended life again or in other circumstances in patients who are not aware, families of patients who did not have the heart to see patients suffering deathbed ask the doctor or nurse not to continue treatment or if necessary, provide drugs to hasten death. From this emerged the term euthanasia, which took off a person’s life to be free from suffering or dying well. From the study of this thesis can be concluded that the lethal injection, or more commonly called euthanasia if viewed from the aspect of criminal law and human rights in Indonesia are still having a debate that has not found the end, because of the provision of human rights by the opposition national laws, especially the Criminal Code in force in Indonesia, but basically that the act of euthanasia is still Brazilians is prohibited in the criminal justice system and health laws that exist in Indonesia, whatever and however excuse used and anyone who filed either personally want themselves or family everything is still forbidden to do anything syringe the dead, even the health workers are still prohibited from lethal injection for any reason

The Death Penalty and Human Dignity: An Existential Fallacy

Proponents of capital punishment in the United States frequently cite the evolution from electrocution and hanging to lethal injection as an indication that the evolving standards of decency exhibited by such a transition demonstrate a respect for human dignity. This essay examines that claim by evaluating two standards for assessing whether an act comports with accepted definitions of human dignity: a personal-achievement model, based on work by economist Amartya Sen of Harvard University, and a universal and intrinsic approach to human dignity articulated by criminologist Robert Johnson of the American University. We evaluate Sen’s capabilities model through the lens of a condemned prisoner’s ability to achieve self-defined goals. We then assess Johnson’s claim that preserving human dignity requires an elimination of the death penalty, irrespective of any prisoner’s ability to lead a restricted, albeit goal-directed, existence.

Physician-assisted death: A Canada-wide survey of ALS health care providers.

To survey amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) health care providers to determine attitudes regarding physician-assisted death (PAD) after the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) invalidated the Criminal Code provisions that prohibit PAD in February 2015. We conducted a Canada-wide survey of physicians and allied health professionals (AHP) involved in the care of patients with ALS on their opinions regarding (1) the SCC ruling, (2) their willingness to participate in PAD, and (3) the PAD implementation process for patients with ALS. We received 231 responses from ALS health care providers representing all 15 academic ALS centers in Canada, with an overall response rate for invited participants of 74%. The majority of physicians and AHP agreed with the SCC ruling and believed that patients with moderate and severe stage ALS should have access to PAD; however, most physicians would not provide a lethal prescription or injection to an eligible patient. They preferred the patient obtain a second opinion to confirm eligibility, have a psychiatric assessment, and then be referred to a third party to administer PAD. The majority of respondents felt unprepared for the initiation of this program and favored the development of PAD training modules and guidelines. ALS health care providers support the SCC decision and the majority believe PAD should be available to patients with moderate to severe ALS with physical or emotional suffering. However, few clinicians are willing to directly provide PAD and additional training and guidelines are required before implementation in Canada.

Death as a Penalty and the Fantasy of Instant Death

In this essay I take up the question of how death can be a penalty, given that each of us will eventually die. I argue that capital punishment in the United States rests on contradictory demands for painless death delivered humanely through pharmaceuticals and yet denies the accused the possibility of natural death. The death penalty must be at once humane and punishing. Analyzing what we mean by ‘botched’ executions, along with the language of the Supreme Court in upholding lethal injection as a humane application of the death penalty, I argue that the fantasy of instant death is at the heart of the tension between death as painless and death as penalty. In the end, I turn to Derrida’s Death Penalty Seminar Volume One, particularly his discussion of Kant’s defence of the capital punishment, and the pivotal role of time in his discussion. Finally, I suggest that the fantasies of instantaneous death and our technological mastery of it result in the fantasy of the ‘good’ punishing death.

Changes in renal WT-1 expression preceding hypertension development.

BackgroundHypertension is a public health problem with mostly unknown causes, and where strong hereditary genetic alterations have not been fully elucidated. However, the use of experimental models has provided valuable information. Recent evidences suggest that alterations in key nephrogenic factors, such as Wilms’ tumor 1 transcription factor (WT-1), could contribute to the development of hypertension. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the expression of WT-1 and related genes in the nephrogenic process in connection with the development of hypertension as well as the corresponding anatomical and functional correlation.MethodsMale spontaneously hypertensive and control rats were evaluated weekly from birth until week 8 of life. Their blood pressure was taken weekly using the tail-cuff blood pressure system. Weekly, 5 rats per group were sacrificed with a lethal injection of pentobarbital, and their kidneys were removed, decapsulated and weighed. The serum was collected for measuring biochemical parameters. The results were assessed using one-way analysis of variance for comparisons between groups.ResultsThe relationship between renal weight/total body weights was established, without significantly different values. These data were compared with apoptosis, fibrosis, number and size of the glomeruli. The elevation of systolic blood pressure was significant since week 6. Biochemical values differed slightly. Histology showed a slight increase in deposits of collagen fibers since week 4. Additionally, in kidney cortices, the expression of WT-1, heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and vitamin D receptors (VDR) decreased since week 4. Finally, we demonstrated ultrastructural damage to mitochondria since week 4.ConclusionsOur results would suggest an unprecedented link, possibly a regulatory mechanism, between WT-1 on nephrogenic alteration processes and their relationship with hypertension. Moreover, and previous to the increase in blood pressure, we demonstrated low expressions of WT-1, VDR and Hsp70 in kidneys from neonatal SHRs. If so, this may suggest that deregulation in the expression of WT-1 and its impact on nephrogenesis induction could be crucial in understanding the development and maintenance of hypertension.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12882-016-0250-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Why and How the Supreme Court Should End the Death Penalty

In a recent opinion dissenting from the Supreme Court’s holding that a certain drug used in carrying out lethal injections is constitutional, Justice Breyer urged the Court to reconsider whether the death penalty is constitutional. Although the Court has so far declined Justice Breyer’s invitation, his dissent has provoked a discussion as to whether the United States should continue to use the death penalty. The purpose of this article is to contribute to that discussion. The article begins with a discussion of the reasons that public support for the death penalty has declined during the last 20 years. Problems in the administration of the death penalty, such as the increasing numbers of exonerations, the continued racial disparities in death sentencing, the continued arbitrary application of the death penalty, and the substandard representation that many defendants receive are identified as the main reasons for this decline. The author concludes that going forward, the Supreme Court has two options available in addressing these problems: it can continue to try to reform the death penalty to make it fairer or it can abolish the death penalty. The article discusses some possible reforms that can be attempted but concludes that these reforms are unlikely to have a significant impact in making the death penalty fairer. Therefore, the author concludes that the only option available to the Court is to completely abolish the death penalty. The author argues that the doctrinal framework for the Court to abolish the death penalty is already firmly in place. The Court could choose to abolish the death penalty for one of several reasons. First, it could find the death penalty violates Equal Protection because of the continued racial disparities in its application. Second, there are several Eighth Amendment grounds upon with the Court could rely. For instance, in the past the Court has found that the application of the death penalty to juveniles and mentally retarded offenders violated the Eighth Amendment because of “evolving standards of decency.” The Court could similarly find that, given the direction of the states in either abolishing the death penalty by statute or in practice and the significant decline in death sentences by juries, that the continued use of the death penalty also violates “evolving standards of decency.” Finally, the author responds to several likely objections that will be made in the event the Court seriously considers abolishing the death penalty, such as the text of the Constitution and the fear of another Furman type public backlash.

A Bureaucracy of Medical Deception? Falsifying Death Certificates in Euthanasia/Assisted Suicide Cases: Quebec's New Euthanasia Law Raises Questions

In the first week of September, the Canadian Medical Association was reported to be “seeking ‘clarity’” about whether or not physicians who perform euthanasia should misrepresent the medical cause of death, classifying death by lethal injection or infusion as death by natural causes. The question arose because it was understood that the Quebec College of Physicians was “considering recommending” that Quebec physicians who provide euthanasia should declare the cause of death to be the underlying medical condition, not the administration of the drugs that actually killed the patient.

North Carolina law expands pool of eligible healthcare professionals to oversee executions by lethal injection

<b>2302</b> <h3><b>Introduction:</b></h3> Prostate cancer (PCa) is still a leading cause of cancer-related death in men in the United States. Although initially responsive to androgen deprivation, most metastatic prostate cancer (PCa)...

Eutanasia dan Hak Asasi Manusia

A patient who is suffering from terminal illness and an incurable condition has the possibility to propose to end his/ her life by lethal injection or suspending the medical treatment. This practice is known as euthanasia. Euthanasia is forbidden because it is categorized as homicide and consequently the perpetrator is punishable by criminal law. This reviewdiscusses (1) How is euthanasia legislation in Indonesian positive laws (2) How is euthanasia viewed from human rights perspective (3) How euthanasia is eligislated and conducted in some European countries. To analyze the afore mentioned problems, the writer conducts research by legal normative approach which is implemented in the thorough study of written regulation, official documents and related literatures. The writer finds tha Euthanasia is regarded as criminal act in Indonesia because it is a form of crime against life which stipulated in the Article 344 of the Indonesian Criminal Code (Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Pidana/ KUHP):”Anyone who takes life of others which is clearly done with an intention is punishable by imprisonment for maximum twelve years”. The Declaration of Human Rights has stipulated the “right to life” which is fundamental and inherent in the nature of human being, universally acknowledge and an eternal endowment from The God. However, there are no any stipulations on-- the right to die and therefore euthanasia is a violation of human rights and against the principle of believing in one God. But, the right to die is already stipulated in some laws of developed countries, such as some countries in Europe

Acanthaster planci invasions: applying biosecurity practices to manage a native boom and bust coral pest in Australia

Coral reef systems are in global decline. In Australia, much of this decline has been attributable to cyclic outbreaks (every ~17 years) of the coral-feeding crown-of-thorns seastar. While a native species, when in large enough densities the seastar acts like an invasive pest. Since 2012 the Australian government has invested significantly in a targeted control program using lethal injection. While this program is effective for individual reefs, it is not a complete strategy for the entire Great Barrier Reef (~2,500 reefs). In order to find a longer-term solution to the problem, in 2015, the lead author travelled to New Zealand, the United States, and Canada under a Churchill Fellowship to understand successful aquatic integrated pest management strategies and their potential application to the Great Barrier Reef. Meetings and workshops were convened with experts who specialise in risk assessment, categorisation, and management of aquatic invasive species. The experts comprised academics, applied scientists, policy makers, and a not for profit community based invasive species council. Bioinvasion management and prioritisation of management effort using risk-based frameworks were reviewed for application to the crown-of-thorns seastar. This viewpoint is novel in its approach of applying invasive species tools and perspectives to a non-invasive, native marine pest. Early detection and rapid response is key to preventing the transition of the seastar from natural densities to outbreak densities. However given the seastar is a native species already established, when in outbreak mode a multifaceted post-border management approach is essential. Private support funding models, that bridge conservation and tourism/philanthropy have proved successful in New Zealand to supplement government funded marine reserve management - this is an approach which should be explored by Australia to help manage the seastar. Dedicated support and commitment is needed to break the issue-attention cycle. On the Great Barrier Reef, a dedicated biosecurity approach should be used to maintain the seastar at natural densities, increase the time between outbreaks, protect coral cover and increase resilience of the system.

Lethal drugs in capital punishment in USA: History, present, and future perspectives

Lethal injection is the preferred method for the execution of condemned prisoners in the United States. Arecent decision of The European Union to prohibit the export of drugs used in capital punishment to the USA along with domestic firms ceasing to manufacture these drugs has resulted in a drug shortage and a search for alternative drugs and new drug combinations that have not been previously validated for inducing death. As a consequence, some of the executions did not proceed as expected and sparked public debate regarding whether recent executions by lethal injection serve the purpose of avoiding "cruel and unusual punishment" in executions. Moreover, a cottage industry comprised of compounding pharmacies as emerged as a source of drug combinations used in capital punishment. Although there is a growing trend toward the abolishment of capital punishment in United States, the controversy concerning the efficacy of drug and involvement of health care professionals in the execution procedure is far from over.

The U.S. Supreme Court is About to Re-Evaluate How Some States Carry Out Lethal Injections

Next month, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case which challenges Oklahoma’s use of “liquid fire” in executions. The drug – potassium chloride – is one of a cocktail of drugs currently used in some states to carry out death sentences, a cocktail that has led to botched executions. Nancy E. Millar comments on the upcoming case, which challenges the drug’s use under the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. She writes that while it is impossible to predict what the Court will decide, its previous decisions and statements might provide some indication of how the justices are leaning.