CBS News/AP: Study: Lethal Injection Method Flawed - Study: Execution Drugs Sometimes Fail To Work, Causing Inmates To Die Slow, Painful Deaths

Excerpt:
"The drugs used to execute prisoners in the United States sometimes fail to work as planned, causing slow and painful deaths that probably violate constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment, a new medical review of dozens of executions concludes.

Even when administered properly, the three-drug lethal injection method appears to have caused some inmates to suffocate while they were conscious and unable to move, instead of having their hearts stopped while they were sedated, scientists said in a report published Monday by the online journal PLoS Medicine.

No scientific groups have ever validated that lethal injection is humane, the authors write. Medical ethics bar doctors and other health professionals from taking part in executions."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/23/ap/health/main2719667.shtml

Alex

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