Lethal Injection: Midazolam (Do do do-do do)

What happens when an execution method designed to be cleaner, more humane, and more scientific turns out to have a very ugly history?

In this episode of Torture: A Dark History, Kevin Young and Dan Hourigan explore the disturbing history of lethal injection, from its origins in the late 19th century to the botched executions that have continued into the modern era.

We’ll meet Paul Warner Powell, whose execution appeared to go exactly as planned, before looking at Joseph Cannon and the disastrous attempt to execute him in Texas. From there, we’ll follow the development of the three drug cocktail, the creation of the Oklahoma Model, and the first lethal injection execution in the United States.

We’ll also look at some of the most notorious cases of botched lethal injections, including Ronald Clark O’Bryan, Stephen Morin, Rommell Broom, Angel Nieves Diaz, Clayton Lockett, Dennis McGuire, John Grant, and Joseph Wood, whose executions raised serious questions about whether this supposedly peaceful method was actually as humane as it was intended to be.

Then we’ll follow the problems surrounding the drugs themselves, changing pharmaceutical supplies, the controversial move toward midazolam, and the growing difficulty of finding people willing and able to carry out executions.

Finally, we’ll travel outside the United States to look at lethal injection in China and the use of mobile execution vans, before returning to America and the latest attempts to find alternative methods of execution.

And because this is Torture: A Dark History, Kevin and Dan bring their own morbid sense of humor to an episode about an execution method that was supposed to make killing look like a medical procedure.

If you’re interested in lethal injection, capital punishment, the Oklahoma Model, botched executions, death row, sodium thiopental, midazolam, the electric chair, execution history, and the disturbing intersection of medicine and punishment, this episode proves that sometimes making something look more humane doesn’t necessarily make it less horrifying.

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