Alabama has executed a man by nitrogen gas for helping to burn a man alive in 1993 over a drug debt. Anthony Boyd was pronounced dead Thursday evening at William C.
I work with Liquid Nitrogen every day on my job, and I have also trained many people over the years, and the first thing we discussis safety.
There are three dangers to Liquid Nitrogen, and everybody worries about the two that will never happen, and they never worry about the real danger.
The first two potential dangers are having your limbs snap off because LN splashed on them, or the the tank will explode. Neither of those things is ever going to happen.
What happens every year, is death from nitrogen asphyxiation. A couple of years ago, 6 workers on a Georgia poultry plant died from a leaky nitrogen pipe. Somebody dies from poorly applied cryotherapy, or poorly maintained equipment every single year. I always have a new, current story to tell in training sessions.
Air contains about 78% nitrogen, and only about 19% oxygen. Otherwise, the entire planetary atmosphere would completely burn up at the first natural lightning strike or spark (nitrogen won’t burn). So we humans evolved over millions of years breathing a high nitrogen atmosphere (part of what characterizes a Class-M planet on Star Trek).
That means that as the nitrogen levels start to rise, and the oxygen levels start to decrease, our bodies easily adjust, and we feel no symptoms like other gaseous poisons like CO² or Carbon Monoxide, which causes nausea, headaches, delusions, confusion, etc. With nitrogen, you get none of that, you just get tired, fall asleep…and die. Its quick, painless, and efficient.
If they are having the problems being reported, then the authorities are doing it wrong. Obviously, using a mask is allowing too much oxygen to leak in. They need a small, airtight chamber. Liquid Nitrogen converts from a liquid to a gas at a rate of about 695:1, which means one ounce of liquid nitrogen evaporates into 695 ounces of gas. It doesn’t take much liquid nitrogen to fill a small chamber with gas, and displace ALL the oxygen. The person will breathe it naturally, and fall asleep. Their vitals can be monitored remotely, and their death confirmed.
There is even a current hit movie (I won’t name the movie since this is a spoiler) in which a character is led into a room, where he sits and relaxes, unaware that the room is filling with gas, which kills him. The film doesn’t say what the gas is, but nitrogen would be the most easily available substance to use.
In the old days, the authorities would be left with a dead inmate and a sealed chamber full of extremely lethal gas, which had to be carefully vented. Today, they’d be left with a sealed chamber of nitrogen, which can easily be vented straight into the high nitrogen atmosphere without danger to anyone else.
Any thrashing around by the inmate is most likely a bit of theater by the inmate, who is not motivated to cooperate, or make things easier on the authorities.
If done properly, which they don’t seem to be doing, execution by nitrogen asphyxiation is painless, efficient, and as humane as an execution can be.
It does tend to be the case that these people don’t know what they’re doing. My understanding is that medical doctors, and professionals like yourself, are more commonly against this type of punishment and refuse to participate.
I have a nuanced view of the death penalty. I think it is used far too often, and often for the wrong reasons. It should probably only be used a handful of times in an entire decade, and only for the most heinous crimes like child rape/murder, serial killers, mass murderers, etc., and only when the evidence is absolutely incontrovertible.
That said, I want the execution to be as humane, quick, and as efficient as possible, and nitrogen asphyxiation will do that, when handled properly.
No, nitrogen doesn’t work like that. CO² doesn’t build up in your body.
We are already breathing a high nitrogen atmosphere, and as the nitrogen level rises, and the oxygen levels lowers, you keep breathing normally, expelling the CO² in the normal way. It wouldn’t accumulate enough in the atmosphere of the chamber to be a threat, any more than in a normal room.
It is not painful, there is no “agony.” Every example of death by nitrogen has showed that the person essentially passed out within a few breaths, with no signs of distress. If they were standing when it overtook them, they’d obviously be sprawled in the ground, but those who were seated or lying down, look like they simply fell asleep, which is exactly what happened.
And unlike Cyanide, which is truly scary substance, Nitrogen poses no substantial threat to anyone operating or witnessing the procedure. Even if the equipment were to fail somehow, it is highly unlikely that a nitrogen release would endanger those around it (the exhaust system would handle it quickly), while a cyanide breach could kill everyone in seconds, before emergency measures could be taken.
Refusing to breathe is the instinctive response to being unwillingly hooked up to nitrogen as a means of execution. This causes co2 buildup in the blood and an agonizing death.
And you know this how? If you are in a chamber filled with nitrogen, you aren’t even going to know it. You will breathe normally, until you fall asleep. Have you ever had anesthesia for anything? Every time I’ve done it, I’ve told myself that I will fight it as long as possible, just as a test (I have also lied on every polygraph test I’ve taken, just for fun, and to prove how worthless polygraphs are). When they tell me to count backwards from 10, I never make it past 8.
If you think that they are going to hold their breathe long enough to exhibit any symptoms of CO² poisoning, you are delusional. It is simply impossible. Go ahead and try it right now. Try to hold your breathe until you are in “agony,” as it was put it in a previous post. You will NEVER reach that point. You will involuntarily breathe after 60 seconds or so. People like Navy Seals can hold their breath longer, but that’s after a lot of training.
BTW, this is the same reason that it is impossible for your finger to snap off after becoming doused with Liquid Nitrogen, which is -320° F. It is literally the same as sticking your finger in a fire until burns enough to fall off. You couldn’t do it, your brain would force you to involuntarily yank it out of the fire. Same with LN. As cold as it is, you would have to immerse your finger for an extended period of time before it would be cold enough to snap off, and nobody could withstand that pain.
You have an issue with Capital Punishment, so you are trying to shoot down any possible method, but your arguments with this method simply don’t hold water. Compared to the medieval methods we have used on the past, Nitrogen IS a humane, effective, and efficient method of execution. THAT is what this discussion is about, not the overall morality of Capital Punishment. IF we are going to have Capital Punishment, then we should do it as efficiently, and humanely as possible, and nothing offers that better than Nitrogen.
I work with Liquid Nitrogen every day on my job, and I have also trained many people over the years, and the first thing we discussis safety.
There are three dangers to Liquid Nitrogen, and everybody worries about the two that will never happen, and they never worry about the real danger.
The first two potential dangers are having your limbs snap off because LN splashed on them, or the the tank will explode. Neither of those things is ever going to happen.
What happens every year, is death from nitrogen asphyxiation. A couple of years ago, 6 workers on a Georgia poultry plant died from a leaky nitrogen pipe. Somebody dies from poorly applied cryotherapy, or poorly maintained equipment every single year. I always have a new, current story to tell in training sessions.
Air contains about 78% nitrogen, and only about 19% oxygen. Otherwise, the entire planetary atmosphere would completely burn up at the first natural lightning strike or spark (nitrogen won’t burn). So we humans evolved over millions of years breathing a high nitrogen atmosphere (part of what characterizes a Class-M planet on Star Trek).
That means that as the nitrogen levels start to rise, and the oxygen levels start to decrease, our bodies easily adjust, and we feel no symptoms like other gaseous poisons like CO² or Carbon Monoxide, which causes nausea, headaches, delusions, confusion, etc. With nitrogen, you get none of that, you just get tired, fall asleep…and die. Its quick, painless, and efficient.
If they are having the problems being reported, then the authorities are doing it wrong. Obviously, using a mask is allowing too much oxygen to leak in. They need a small, airtight chamber. Liquid Nitrogen converts from a liquid to a gas at a rate of about 695:1, which means one ounce of liquid nitrogen evaporates into 695 ounces of gas. It doesn’t take much liquid nitrogen to fill a small chamber with gas, and displace ALL the oxygen. The person will breathe it naturally, and fall asleep. Their vitals can be monitored remotely, and their death confirmed.
There is even a current hit movie (I won’t name the movie since this is a spoiler) in which a character is led into a room, where he sits and relaxes, unaware that the room is filling with gas, which kills him. The film doesn’t say what the gas is, but nitrogen would be the most easily available substance to use.
In the old days, the authorities would be left with a dead inmate and a sealed chamber full of extremely lethal gas, which had to be carefully vented. Today, they’d be left with a sealed chamber of nitrogen, which can easily be vented straight into the high nitrogen atmosphere without danger to anyone else.
Any thrashing around by the inmate is most likely a bit of theater by the inmate, who is not motivated to cooperate, or make things easier on the authorities.
If done properly, which they don’t seem to be doing, execution by nitrogen asphyxiation is painless, efficient, and as humane as an execution can be.
It does tend to be the case that these people don’t know what they’re doing. My understanding is that medical doctors, and professionals like yourself, are more commonly against this type of punishment and refuse to participate.
I have a nuanced view of the death penalty. I think it is used far too often, and often for the wrong reasons. It should probably only be used a handful of times in an entire decade, and only for the most heinous crimes like child rape/murder, serial killers, mass murderers, etc., and only when the evidence is absolutely incontrovertible.
That said, I want the execution to be as humane, quick, and as efficient as possible, and nitrogen asphyxiation will do that, when handled properly.
The instinct to survive makes breathing in the death gas extremely difficult even if you’re in agony from co2 buildup in your body
No, nitrogen doesn’t work like that. CO² doesn’t build up in your body.
We are already breathing a high nitrogen atmosphere, and as the nitrogen level rises, and the oxygen levels lowers, you keep breathing normally, expelling the CO² in the normal way. It wouldn’t accumulate enough in the atmosphere of the chamber to be a threat, any more than in a normal room.
It is not painful, there is no “agony.” Every example of death by nitrogen has showed that the person essentially passed out within a few breaths, with no signs of distress. If they were standing when it overtook them, they’d obviously be sprawled in the ground, but those who were seated or lying down, look like they simply fell asleep, which is exactly what happened.
And unlike Cyanide, which is truly scary substance, Nitrogen poses no substantial threat to anyone operating or witnessing the procedure. Even if the equipment were to fail somehow, it is highly unlikely that a nitrogen release would endanger those around it (the exhaust system would handle it quickly), while a cyanide breach could kill everyone in seconds, before emergency measures could be taken.
Refusing to breathe is the instinctive response to being unwillingly hooked up to nitrogen as a means of execution. This causes co2 buildup in the blood and an agonizing death.
There is no humane form of execution.
And you know this how? If you are in a chamber filled with nitrogen, you aren’t even going to know it. You will breathe normally, until you fall asleep. Have you ever had anesthesia for anything? Every time I’ve done it, I’ve told myself that I will fight it as long as possible, just as a test (I have also lied on every polygraph test I’ve taken, just for fun, and to prove how worthless polygraphs are). When they tell me to count backwards from 10, I never make it past 8.
If you think that they are going to hold their breathe long enough to exhibit any symptoms of CO² poisoning, you are delusional. It is simply impossible. Go ahead and try it right now. Try to hold your breathe until you are in “agony,” as it was put it in a previous post. You will NEVER reach that point. You will involuntarily breathe after 60 seconds or so. People like Navy Seals can hold their breath longer, but that’s after a lot of training.
BTW, this is the same reason that it is impossible for your finger to snap off after becoming doused with Liquid Nitrogen, which is -320° F. It is literally the same as sticking your finger in a fire until burns enough to fall off. You couldn’t do it, your brain would force you to involuntarily yank it out of the fire. Same with LN. As cold as it is, you would have to immerse your finger for an extended period of time before it would be cold enough to snap off, and nobody could withstand that pain.
You have an issue with Capital Punishment, so you are trying to shoot down any possible method, but your arguments with this method simply don’t hold water. Compared to the medieval methods we have used on the past, Nitrogen IS a humane, effective, and efficient method of execution. THAT is what this discussion is about, not the overall morality of Capital Punishment. IF we are going to have Capital Punishment, then we should do it as efficiently, and humanely as possible, and nothing offers that better than Nitrogen.