IN THE US the death penalty coexists with the hope that there is a “humane” way to kill someone. So 37 of the 38 states that sanction it use the supposedly painless lethal injection. But new evidence suggests that people may still be suffering during such executions.
In most states, the lethal injection is a three-drug cocktail: sodium thiopental to make the person unconscious; followed by pancuronium bromide to paralyse muscles and stop breathing; and finally potassium chloride to stop the heart.
Researchers led by Teresa Zimmers at the University of Miami in Florida have shown that this protocol is…
