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Lethal Injection Drugs
Thiopental SodiumThe first drug that is given to the soon to be executed
is Thiopental Sodium. It is used most by physicians as an anesthetic and to cause medical comas. “Thiopental sodium
(US trade name: Pentothal) is an ultra-short acting barbiturate, often used for anesthesia induction and for medical induced
comas.”(Lethal) It is giving to the prisoner to cause them to become unconscious while they are being injected with
the other drugs. The Thiopental Sodium begins to start working within 30-45 seconds.
This drug immediately heads toward the brain and once it begins working
about 60% of the dose is present in the brain. After about 5-20 minutes only about 15% of the dose is present in the brain
due to the drug spreading throughout the rest of the body. Once the does becomes that low in the brain consciousness begins
to return to the person. The inmates are usually injected with 4mg of Thiopental Sodium. If given a surplus amount of Thiopental
Sodium, 5 grams or more, it can by itself cause fatality.
Pancuronium BromidePancuronium Bromide, also known as Pavulon,
is then injected to cause muscle paralysis. It prevents the acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter, from attaching to receptors
which then causes muscles to become paralyzed. When acetylcholine attaches to the receptors it opens channels in the membrane
which enables stimulation of muscle contraction. “Binding of acetylcholine to receptors on the end-plate causes depolarization
and contraction of the muscle fibre; non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocking agents like pancuronium stop this binding from
taking place.”(Lethal) So by preventing the binding of the acetylcholine to the receptors the muscles will not be stimulated
and therefore they will be unable to contract.
Inmates are usually given about .1mg of Pancuronium Bromide during execution.
Pancuronium Bromide can also cause fatality by itself. If given 100mg or more respiratory muscles become paralyzed which causes
breathing to stop. If given such a surplus of this drug paralysis usually beings in about 15-30 seconds.
Potassium ChlorideThe
final drug that is injected is Potassium Chloride. “Potassium is a mineral that is found naturally in foods and is necessary
for many normal functions of the body, especially beating of the heart.”(Potassium) The normal dose that doctors give
to patients with an insufficient amount of potassium is 10-20 MEQ. When it is used in lethal injection they are injected with
a surplus amount of potassium chloride, 100 MEQ, which causes Hyperkalemia.
Hyperkalemia causes muscles to be unable to contract and eventually
stops the heart from beating. Its purpose is to ultimately cause cardiac arrest among the prisoners being injected. “Cases
of patients dying from hyperkalemia (usually secondary to renal failure) are well known in the medical community, where patients
have been known to go from a normal state to death within seconds.”(Lethal)
Dan
Heaton
April 2006
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