The LiveJournalists are concerned that death row killers might feel some pain when the lethal injection cocktail is administered:
Because capital punishment is irreversible, it deserves the closest scrutiny, whether the issue is the evidence that put someone on death row or the method by which they are executed. Texas loses nothing by delaying the use of lethal injection until the substantial doubts about its supposedly painless administration are thoroughly investigated and answered.
Great idea! Over at Lone Star Times, Matt Bramanti has some alternatives for the LJ’s to consider, but I’ve got one of my own: dehydration. Last year the Chronicle published a letter to the editor from a Dr. Martin Steiner that said:
Until the introduction of a feeding tube in the late 1890s, if patients could not eat or drink, they would die.
That has been the way millions on Earth have passed on. Dying in this manner is a natural way to die.
There is nothing cruel or inhumane about dying from dehydration the way Terri Schiavo did. In fact, the building up in the body of various electrolytes produces a natural sedation and a peaceful death.
So there you go. Problem solved. From now on, officials in Huntsville should just take away food and water from death row killers. It’s the natural, peaceful way to die. And as an added bonus, there’ll be an extra week or so to find any new, exonerating evidence that might prove the bad guy’s innocence.
