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Ohio will adopt a new (classic) execution protocol and resume executions on Jan. 12, 2017:
The state of Ohio plans to resume executions in 2017 with a new three-drug combination. The state will use the drugs midazolam, rocuronium bromide and potassium chloride. To make the switch the state is expected to adopt [a] new execution protocol by the end of the week. The state hasn't executed anyone since January 2014.
The new drug mix is really a return to one the state used for 10 years. "The department used a similar combination from 1999 to 2009, and last year, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the use of this specific three-drug combination," said JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.
Ohio has had trouble getting drugs to use for lethal injections in part because pharmaceutical companies don't want their medical products used for killing people. Two years ago European pharmaceutical companies blocked further sales on moral and legal grounds. Ohio has looked for other options, but all have obstacles.
For background, Wikipedia offers: Midazolam, rocuronium bromide, and potassium chloride.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by theluggage on Tuesday October 04 2016, @12:16PM
Sounds like what they need is some affordable device that is easily available in the USA, and already proven effective for killing people in the course of law enforcement and military action. You'll need a supply of people who are happy to exercise their constitutional rights & use it for you, too. I'm sure I've heard of something that fits this bill, but I can't quite put my finger on it...
Failing that, the local abattoir will have some kit that turns cows into beef with an absolute minimum of moo & mess, and they're held to pretty high standards in terms of avoiding unnecessary suffering... or does that raise uncomfortable comparisons that might lead people to question the humanity of this whole "killing people" thing?
All these bizarre "humane" ways of executing people who supposedly deserve to die, c.f. a bullet being good enough for some poor kid who just got conscripted into the wrong army suggest that a certain amount of cognitive dissonance might be in play here.
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Tuesday October 04 2016, @02:43PM
See subject.
Never could get the hang of (checks) Tuesdays.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 04 2016, @03:11PM
Neither "dumb" nor "duh" rhymes with "fun"
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Tuesday October 04 2016, @03:13PM
Death by bun? Or nun...
Or, fittingly, pun. Someone call Gene Shalit.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday October 04 2016, @07:24PM
Gun is a bad idea. However your suggestion about the abattoir is reasonable.
The room full of nitrogen is probably the best idea, but you could also use an injection of novocaine into the brainstem. Or an overdose of ether. There are lots of reasonably cheap and painless techniques. Nitrous oxide has a lot going for it, but I believe is has no lethal overdose. Chloroform is easy to make and reliable, and since you don't intend the patient to recover, you don't need to worry about damage to heart or liver. You could even get them falling down drunk, and then use an IV of 100 proof grain neutral spirits until they die.
Exsanguination in a warm bath is a traditional Roman method, and it could be made even more painless. Etc. (Blood donors don't experience much pain, and if the other arm was equipped with an IV trickling in Ringers solution it should be possible to withdraw most of the blood from the body without any notable amount of pain. That, however, would seem to require more cooperation from the victim than a gaseous anesthetic. (Chloroform is easily converted into a gas at a fairly low temperature, so just feed it into the air supply and he'll soon be out. Then you place a loose cloth over his mouth and nose and dribble chloroform onto it until he dies. This would be even easier with ether, but ether is more flammable with explosions not out of the question.)
And it's not as if either ether or chloroform currently have medical uses. They're used in chemical processing.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday October 04 2016, @10:08PM
I liked your post
already proven effective for killing people in the course of law enforcement and military action.
It's late, and for a moment I thought you were suggesting that they carry out the executions via drone strike on the condemned inmate's prison cell. Of course this would be unnecessarily complicated and horrifically wasteful in terms of not only taxpayers' money but also lives and property. It would be an utterly absurd, exaggerated and irrational response to a fairly well-understood problem.
I fully expect the US to implement it immediately.