Alabama is seeking to become the first state to execute a prisoner by making him breathe pure nitrogen

Alabama is seeking to become the first state to execute a prisoner by making him breathe pure nitrogen.

The Alabama attorney general’s office on Friday asked the state Supreme Court to set an execution date for death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith, 58. The court filing indicated Alabama plans to put him to death by nitrogen hypoxia, an execution method that is authorized in three states but has never been used.

Nitrogen hypoxia is caused by forcing the inmate to breathe only nitrogen, depriving them of oxygen and causing them to die. Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air inhaled by humans and is harmless when inhaled with oxygen. While proponents of the new method have theorized it would be painless, opponents have likened it to human experimentation.

  • CaptObvious@literature.cafe
    523·
    10 months ago

    That seems unlikely. As @protist@mander.xyz explains further down the thread, it would likely lead to generalized pain and terror before seizures and death.

        • BrianTheFirst@kbin.social
          161·
          10 months ago

          Yes, I did. Read my post.

          They said:

          Nitrogen narcosis happens to deep sea divers breathing compressed air, this would be straight up hypoxia, aka oxygen deprivation. Here’s what it does to your brain:

          Nitrogen narcosis happens because when you are under pressure, like when underwater, gases are more easily dissolved. The nitrogen that is in your body dissolves into your tissues and basically anesthetizes you to death.

          Nitrogen asphyxiation, like what we’re talking about here, is when the nitrogen that you breathe displaces the oxygen in your lungs. This causes the oxygen levels in your blood to drop, which is what kills you.

          • CaptObvious@literature.cafe
            118·
            10 months ago

            You said:

            @protist is talking about nitrogen narcosis

            @protist@protist@mander.xyz said:

            …this would be straight up hypoxia, aka oxygen deprivation

            I have a scuba certification. I know what nitrogen narcosis is. @protist is clearly not talking about nitrogen narcosis. They’re describing what would actually happen in the case of being forced to breathe pure nitrogen, which is straight up suffocation.

            suffocation
            noun
            death caused by not having enough oxygen, or the act of killing someone by not allowing them to have enough oxygen
            –Cambridge Dictionary

            • BrianTheFirst@kbin.social
              61·
              10 months ago

              Captain, in my comment that you just replied to, I quoted them literally saying that they are talking about nitrogen narcosis.

              • CTdummy@artemis.camp
                2·
                10 months ago

                In protist comment the “this…” after nitrogen narcosis is meant to indicate a change of topic to the OP. As in “X is boring this is pod racing. “ it’s ambiguous and a semi colon could have probably avoided this confusion. Or even just “what op is describing is”. Not that I think his comment is necessarily correct.

              • CaptObvious@literature.cafe
                19·
                10 months ago

                I give up. They very clearly said exactly the opposite, but if that’s where your reading level is, then you do you.

            • bemenaker@lemmy.world
              2·
              10 months ago

              You are correct that I forgot that you have to be under pressure for narcosis. I have read about death from nitrogen asphyxiation and thought it induced it also. I am slonscuba certified and while I haven’t been narcd, my dad has. You still get light headed and dizzy during asphyxiation from nitrogen due to lack of oxygen, which is part of being narcd but being narcd is worse because of absorbtion into the brain. Since.you are still breathing out CO2 you don’t feel the panicking you’re suffocating feeling, but it still takes 4 minutes to kill you. Though you will unconscious after a minute most likely.

              So yes, you are correct I forgot that it takes pressure to truly get narcd but asphyxiation does still bring on similar feelings itself.

        • neuropean@kbin.social
          41·
          10 months ago

          Yes he is. Nitrogen narcosis is from breathing compressed air with a high nitrogen blend. That’s why you need trimix with helium beyond a couple hundred feet. Otherwise you end up like my buddy trying to give fish your regulator.

    • Notorious_handholder@lemmy.world
      61·
      10 months ago

      That guy is misinformed. He is talking about hypoxia which is what people commonly think of when dying from lack of oxygen, think of drowning. Hypoxia triggers the alarms in your body that cause the fear and pain you associate with suffocating due to the build up of co2 in the body.

      With inert gases like nitrogen however it is different. Check out this wiki article, in the process drop down tab is provides a pretty good explanation on the matter

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inert_gas_asphyxiation

      • bemenaker@lemmy.world
        21·
        10 months ago

        Not misinformed, I forgot it takes.pressure.to.get narcd, but asphyxiation does cause some of the same feelings. Narcd is nitrogen asphyxiation, but it has other effects, and the feeling is more intense before reaching total asphyxiation, and therefore it is easier to recover from. It takes the pressure for the nitrogen to bind to the oxygen receptors.