Monday 31 January 2011

Headline May Not Be All That Accurate…



You mean, he’s still alive?

No:
An American prisoner in Georgia was executed with British drugs despite testimony from defence lawyers and a medical expert that one of the chemicals might have been ineffective and beyond its shelf life.
It seems to have been pretty effective to me…
In a series of last-minute appeals, lawyers for Mr Hammond presented evidence from Dr Mark Heath, a clinical anaesthesiologist at Columbia University Medical Centre, who said evidence from a previous execution of a Georgia prisoner suggested Dream Pharma's sodium thiopental may not have worked properly.
And the reason for thinking this is..?
Brandon Rhode was executed using Dream Pharma's sodium thiopental on 27 September 2010. During the execution, numerous reporters and witnesses noticed that his eyes remained open throughout the procedure, an event Dr Heath described as "highly atypical" as the drug normally ensures an executed inmate's eyes remain closed.
They’re closed now, aren’t they?

So, did the same thing happen to…

Oh;
It is not yet known whether Hammond, who spent 23 years on death row for murder, showed similar symptoms during his execution.
Not that that’ll stop ubiquitous bandwagon-jumper Stafford-Smith from whinging to the press…
Reprieve, a British group that campaigns against the death penalty, said the Government should have done more to make sure British drugs were not used in executions.
"It is shocking that Britain has allowed a fly-by-night company in the back of a driving academy to export these drugs," said Clive Stafford-Smith, Reprieve's director. "The British Government must initiate an immediate inquiry into how this can happen."
Sorry, chum. Cutbacks, doncherknow?

7 comments:

MTG said...

A Nation which abolished the death penalty and strangely sanctions the peddling of execution drugs to other States, finds itself compromised by moral inconsistencies.

PT said...

The UK exports all sorts of things with several uses to other states. Kitchen knives, explosives, ropes, cars, baseball bats, fertilisers, diesel fuel & petrol can also be used to cause death. I'm sure those employed in those industries would value their extra leisure if the manufacture of all possible agents of death were banned in this country.

Captain Haddock said...

Does Sodium Thiopental require an "end user" certificate ?

If not .. then this is a non-story & a load of old cock to boot ..

Seems to me it worked perfectly well & if it rid the world of one more piece of scum, that'll do for me ..

Anonymous said...

I wonder we have enough to export :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4756435.stm

DJ said...

Good to know leftists are still working hard for that classless society thing. Actually, I'm pretty sure it wasn't behind a driving academy, it was behind a chintzy bistro in Hampstead. Much better!

JuliaM said...

"...compromised by moral inconsistencies."

Who are we to impose our own morality on other countries? Has it made us a better society?

"I'm sure those employed in those industries would value their extra leisure if the manufacture of all possible agents of death were banned in this country."

Quite. I can only imagine the outcry if the US were to throw up its hands and say 'You win! We'll go back to hanging, m'kay?'

"Does Sodium Thiopental require an "end user" certificate ?

If not .. then this is a non-story.."


Good point.

"Good to know leftists are still working hard for that classless society thing."

Heh! I thought that was odd phrasing, all things considered.

Dr Evil said...

Well, JuliaM, hanging if done properly is extremely quick. Much quicker than a shot of potassium chloride and an anaesthetic. However, I think they deserve to dance the Tyburn jig rather than a quick snap. But then I'm a cruel bastard.