There has been a push by Indiana legislators to rework and add alternative methods to the carrying out of executions in Indiana. House Bill 1119, authored by Rep. Jim Lucas,
I’m generally against execution due to the chance it could be applied to an innocent person, but if it’s going to be a thing, why the fuck can’t it be asphyxiation by nitrogen? The most painless and peaceful way to sleep yourself to death is RIGHT THERE. The body doesn’t even consciously know that it’s dying. The person just blacks out and that’s it.
Alabama executed someone with nitrogen in 2024 (I know other states have as well, but this was the first one I remember reading about), it doesn’t seem as quick and painless as one is lead to believe in writing.
A witness told the BBC that Smith thrashed violently on the gurney and the execution took around 25 minutes.
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“I’ve been to four previous executions and I’ve never seen a condemned inmate thrash in the way that Kenneth Smith reacted to the nitrogen gas,” Lee Hedgepeth told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
Huh, guess I’m wrong. Dangit sci-fi books, you lied to me. I always thought that’s why nitrogen-rich environments were so insidiously dangerous as opposed to CO2-flooded ones, because the body is hardwired to detect and panic in response to CO2 suffocation, but there’s no such innate detection mechanism for low-O2 or high-N2 (or argon or any other inert gas) places.
25 minutes is pretty amazing for a body to survive in a hypoxic environment. That sounds like it was a horrible experience for everyone. It would seem there’s no good way to die…
Didn’t they try that once and the condemned was trying not to breath as long as he could, convulsing, fighting for his life till the last moment? From what I read it wasn’t peaceful at all.
I’m generally against execution due to the chance it could be applied to an innocent person, but if it’s going to be a thing, why the fuck can’t it be asphyxiation by nitrogen? The most painless and peaceful way to sleep yourself to death is RIGHT THERE. The body doesn’t even consciously know that it’s dying. The person just blacks out and that’s it.
Source: Project Hail Mary
Alabama executed someone with nitrogen in 2024 (I know other states have as well, but this was the first one I remember reading about), it doesn’t seem as quick and painless as one is lead to believe in writing.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68085513
Huh, guess I’m wrong. Dangit sci-fi books, you lied to me. I always thought that’s why nitrogen-rich environments were so insidiously dangerous as opposed to CO2-flooded ones, because the body is hardwired to detect and panic in response to CO2 suffocation, but there’s no such innate detection mechanism for low-O2 or high-N2 (or argon or any other inert gas) places.
25 minutes is pretty amazing for a body to survive in a hypoxic environment. That sounds like it was a horrible experience for everyone. It would seem there’s no good way to die…
Didn’t they try that once and the condemned was trying not to breath as long as he could, convulsing, fighting for his life till the last moment? From what I read it wasn’t peaceful at all.