Alabama’s execution method

Nitrogen hypoxia per se is not an inherently painful or stressful experience (The Economist explains, January 27th). In fact what makes pure nitrogen so dangerous is that a leak which displaces enough breathable air can cause death with virtually no perceptible symptoms as the victims lapse into unconsciousness. For this reason, facilities using gases like nitrogen or helium are required to install alarms that warn of dangerously low oxygen levels in the event of a leak.

The problem with Alabama’s execution method is that the active participation of the prisoner, in the form of volitional breathing, is required to administer the lethal agent. This is worse than ordering the condemned prisoner to push a button that will initiate his own death. It is more akin to the plight of a drowning person, who will hold his breath knowing a rapid death will ensue when he can no longer do so.

The intense and primal drive to breathe, which makes suicidal hypoxia by breathholding physiologically impossible, is presumably one of the reasons why waterboarding was considered by the CIA to be such a compelling threat during sessions of “enhanced interrogation”.

Notwithstanding the near universal condemnation of capital punishment in democracies, the experience of a prisoner during the initial minutes of this procedure can be expected to resemble that of being waterboarded, or forced to maintain a painful stress position under threat of death.

RICK HOGE

Associate professor in neurology and neurosurgery

McGill University

Montreal