Lethal Injection

This article reveals that there may be little medical evidence to suggest that lethal injection is a humane way to carry out executions. The author suggests many states and courts go out of their way to hide the evidence that current procedures are inhumane. Who knew the methods used to carry out executions are "state secrets"? Note that the drug combination Missouri uses to execute humans been banned (by Missouri law) from use on animals. Hmmmm...

"Johnston's attorneys, backed by a growing cadre of death-penalty experts, maintain that while advances in medical science have yielded an arsenal of more humane drugs, corrections departments continue to rely on an archaic method unchanged since lethal injection was introduced in 1977. The combination of barbiturates and Pavulon has been publicly condemned by the American Veterinary Medical Association for euthanizing animals, and Johnston's attorneys argue that its use on humans "violates contemporary standards of decency." "

"Veterinarians, on the other hand, have been studying how to humanely euthanize animals for decades. In a report published in 2001, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) condemned the chemical combination of sodium pentothal and Pavulon for animal euthanasia. Similarly, Missouri veterinary regulations prohibit the barbiturate/Pavulon sequence."