Editing Lethal injection (section)

====Cruel and unusual====
On occasion, difficulties inserting the intravenous needles have also occurred, with personnel sometimes taking over half an hour to find a suitable vein.<ref name="uk"/> Typically, the difficulty is found in convicts with diabetes or a history of intravenous drug use.<ref name=":2" /> Opponents argue that excessive time taken to insert intravenous lines is tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment. In addition, opponents point to instances where the intravenous line has failed, or when adverse reactions to drugs or unnecessary delays have happened during the process of execution.

On December 13, 2006, [[Angel Nieves Diaz]] was not executed successfully in Florida using a standard lethal-injection dose. Diaz was 55 years old and had been sentenced to death for murder. Diaz did not succumb to the lethal dose even after 35 minutes, necessitating a second dose of drugs to complete the execution. At first, a prison spokesman denied Diaz had suffered pain and claimed the second dose was needed because Diaz had some sort of liver disease.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2006/12/14/Florida-lethal-injection-takes-34-minutes/UPI-59261166098582/ |title=Florida lethal injection takes 34 minutes |date=December 14, 2006 |location=Starke, Florida |publisher=UPI – United Press International |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140423172911/http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2006/12/14/Florida-lethal-injection-takes-34-minutes/UPI-59261166098582/ |archive-date=April 23, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> After performing an autopsy, the medical examiner, Dr. William Hamilton, stated that Diaz's liver appeared normal, but that the needle had pierced through Diaz's vein into his flesh. The deadly chemicals had subsequently been injected into soft tissue rather than into the vein.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/some-examples-post-furman-botched-executions |title=Examples of Post-Furman Botched Executions |first=Michael L. |last=Radelet |publisher=University of Colorado |date=October 1, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224024237/http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/some-examples-post-furman-botched-executions |archive-date=February 24, 2009 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Two days after the execution, then-Governor [[Jeb Bush]] suspended all executions in the state and appointed a commission "to consider the humanity and constitutionality of lethal injections."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50D13F939550C758DDDAB0994DE404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fC%2fCapital%20Punishment |title=After Problem Execution, Governor Bush Suspends the Death Penalty in Florida |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 16, 2006 |first1=Adam |last1=Liptak |first2=Terry |last2=Aguayo |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140423171723/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50D13F939550C758DDDAB0994DE404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fC%2fCapital%20Punishment |archive-date=April 23, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The ban was lifted by Governor [[Charlie Crist]] when he signed the death warrant for [[Mark Dean Schwab]] on July 18, 2007.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/07/florida-governor-lifts-temporary-ban-on.php |title=Florida governor lifts temporary ban on executions |date=July 18, 2007 |first=Caitlin |last=Price |journal=JURIST |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629100020/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/07/florida-governor-lifts-temporary-ban-on.php |archive-date=June 29, 2011}}</ref> On November 1, 2007, the [[Florida Supreme Court]] unanimously upheld the state's lethal-injection procedures.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/11/florida-supreme-court-upholds-state.php |title=Florida Supreme Court upholds state lethal injection procedure |date=November 1, 2007 |first=Benjamin |last=Klein |journal=JURIST |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629100025/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/11/florida-supreme-court-upholds-state.php |archive-date=June 29, 2011}}</ref>

A study published in 2007 in ''[[PLOS Medicine]]'' suggested that "the conventional view of lethal injection leading to an invariably peaceful and painless death is questionable".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Lethal Injection for Execution: Chemical Asphyxiation?|date=April 2007|journal=[[PLOS Medicine]]|page=e156|doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0040156|pmid=17455994|pmc=1876417|volume=4|issue=4|df=mdy-all|last1=Zimmers|first1=Teresa A.|last2=Sheldon|first2=Jonathan|last3=Lubarsky|first3=David A.|last4=López-Muñoz|first4=Francisco|last5=Waterman|first5=Linda|last6=Weisman|first6=Richard|last7=Koniaris|first7=Leonidas G. |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The execution of [[Romell Broom]] was abandoned in Ohio on September 15, 2009, after prison officials failed to find a vein after two hours of trying on his arms, legs, hands, and ankle. This stirred up more intense debate in the United States about lethal injection.<ref>{{cite news |first=Peter |last=Slevin |title=Execution Methods Examined |date=October 12, 2009 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/11/AR2009101100502.html?hpid=moreheadlines |access-date=May 2, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628202812/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/11/AR2009101100502.html?hpid=moreheadlines |archive-date=June 28, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Broom's execution was later rescheduled for March 2022, but he died in 2020 before the sentence could be carried out.

[[Execution of Dennis McGuire|Dennis McGuire]] was executed in [[Lucasville, Ohio]], on January 17, 2014. According to reporters, McGuire's execution took more than 20 minutes, and he was gasping for air for 10–13 minutes after the drugs had been administered. It was the first use of a new drug combination which was introduced in Ohio after the European Union banned sodium thiopental exports.<ref>{{cite news |publisher=CNN |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/16/justice/ohio-dennis-mcguire-execution/ |title=New drug combo used in Ohio execution |access-date=January 19, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140119073837/http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/16/justice/ohio-dennis-mcguire-execution |archive-date=January 19, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> This reignited criticism of the conventional three-drug method.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ctpost.com/news/crime/article/Unclear-future-for-executions-after-Ohio-s-longest-5154773.php |title=Unclear future for executions after Ohio's longest |publisher=ctpost.com |date=January 18, 2014 |access-date=January 19, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201225849/http://www.ctpost.com/news/crime/article/Unclear-future-for-executions-after-Ohio-s-longest-5154773.php |archive-date=February 1, 2014 }}</ref>

[[Execution of Clayton Lockett|Clayton Lockett]] died of a heart attack during a failed execution attempt on April 29, 2014, at [[Oklahoma State Penitentiary]] in [[McAlester, Oklahoma]]. Lockett was administered an untested mixture of drugs that had not previously been used for executions in the U.S. He survived for 43 minutes before being pronounced dead. Lockett convulsed and spoke during the process and attempted to rise from the execution table 14 minutes into the procedure, despite having been declared unconscious.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/30/oklahoma-execution-botched-clayton-lockett |title=Oklahoma execution: Clayton Lockett writhes on gurney in botched procedure |work=The Guardian |first=Katie |last=Fretland |date=April 30, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140430044116/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/30/oklahoma-execution-botched-clayton-lockett |archive-date=April 30, 2014 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

Lethal injection, by design, is outwardly ambiguous with respect to what can be seen by witnesses. The 8th amendment of the US constitution proscribes cruel punishment but only the punished can accurately gauge the experience of cruelty. In state-sanctioned executions, the inmate is unable to be a witness to their own execution, so it is up to the assembled witnesses to have the final say. Eyewitnesses to execution report very different observations, and these differences range from an opinion that the execution was painless to comments that the execution was highly problematic.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/executioners-sanitized-accounts-of-death-25d133f59039150c2e308ba1a2a5caef|title = Executioners sanitized accounts of deaths in federal cases|website = [[Associated Press]]|date = April 20, 2021}}</ref> Post mortem examinations of inmates executed by lethal injection have revealed a common finding of heavily congested lungs consistent with pulmonary edema.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000140.htm|title = Pulmonary edema: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/09/21/793177589/gasping-for-air-autopsies-reveal-troubling-effects-of-lethal-injection|title=Gasping for Air: Autopsies Reveal Troubling Effects of Lethal Injection|newspaper=NPR.org}}</ref> The occurrence of pulmonary edema found at autopsy raises the question about the actual cruelty of lethal injection. If pulmonary edema occurs as a consequence of lethal injection, the experience of death may be more akin to drowning than simply the painless death described by lethal injection proponents. Pulmonary edema can only occur if the inmate has heart function and cannot occur after death.