CRIMES AND LETHAL INJECTION

by Earlie Doriman

Death GURNEY used in lethal injection.

 Barely two weeks ago, on 30^th March 2011, three of my countrymen were executed in China by Lethal Injection. The Crime: Drug Trafficking.  The felony was indeed a heinous offence that deserved an appropriate penalty. Many would surely agree to the extreme punishment the three people were unable to escape from the Chinese laws. But to me, death penalty was too much to end a human life. It is more disheartening to know that they were victims too of a worldwide drug syndicate that lured them, exploited them, and used them as drug mules against their innocence.
 To the criminal justice system of China, that implemented death penalty by lethal injection in 1997, justice has been served. To the Divine Law, three lives were wasted, wrongfully claimed, and mercilessly extinguished. I am not certain how many more people await their turn inside the cold cells, helplessly counting the tick of the clock as the time moves closer to their death. Waiting for the instruction to lie on the reproving bed and allow the needles to slowly and painfully seize away the sacred life that God has entrusted to each one of us.

Death is an absolute truth in this world.  We are all expected to leave this physical body to causes we are not profoundly sure what. But we shall all die in God’s chosen time and not by the technicalities of a human law. The capital punishment of death, however it is executed, is extremely inhuman. It violates the very basic right to life and liberty.  We do fight the rights of animals and condemn those who abused them, but why a human life seems to be worthless in this case.

Ramon Credu, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, and Elizabeth Batain were simply stripped of their rights to live. But do they truly deserve to die? Were they given the proper court to defend themselves and convince the world of their blamelessness? No one could bring them back to life and that means they would forever be criminals in the eyes of the world.

The facts about lethal injection are frightening. To imagine someone undergoes such ordeal is shattering. In my readings, I am made aware about how painful it is to die through lethal injection. Accordingly, there are few methods to do it but mostly, the administration follows a general procedure with substances differing to some extent. Let me summarize some of these important processes and feel for yourself why lethal injection and death penalty in general should be considered a thing of the past.
The subject criminal undergoes a medical and physical examination. On the date of his/her execution he/she be given the last meal.
The convict will be taken to the preparation room near the death chamber and is bound to a death GURNEY. A gurney is a type of adjustable modern hospital bed. It is commonly called stretcher in the US, but hospital trolley in the UK. It has straps to secure the criminal.

*  Two needles are inserted into the prisoner’s veins and a saline solution is injected. 

*  A massive dose of anaesthetic, generally called SODIUM THIOPENTAL, also called Sodium    Penthotal and Trapanol, is infused to put the criminal to sleep. This is a barbiturate general anaesthetic. Barbiturate means the drug has also sedative, anxiolytic, anti-convulsant, and hypnotic properties, but it does not have analgesic effect. Some US States use PENTOBARBITAL as anaesthetic substance. 

* A PAVULON, or PANCURONIUM BROMIDE, is eventually released, inducing paralysis and stopped breathing. It is considered a muscle relaxant chemical. If this could not render the person unconscious, he would feel agonizing pain.
* Lastly, the flow of POTASSIUM CHLORIDE stops the heartbeat. It affects the electrical conduction of muscles, causes the resting electrical potential of the heart muscle cells to lower than normal which disallows the cardiac cells generate impulses that lead to contraction. This chemical could actually cause excruciating pain if the criminal remains conscious.
This procedure simple and straightforward, but there are many problems that could take place as the lethal injection is administered. Consider the following below.

* The lethal injection team may not find the suitable vein immediately which further the emotional and psychological suffering of the convict.
* There were cases where the mixture and composition of chemicals is wrong.
* The direction of the flow of the injection is wrong.
* The drugs are directed into the tissue rather than the vein.
* The prisoner does not react normally to the drugs given.
* Some executions have lasted for 30 minutes to one hour and the person subjected to lethal injection was seen gasping for air, trembling and convulsing during the executions.

References:

Wikipedia

Al C. Parke