why do they use alcohol swabs for lethal injections?

Answer 1

according to a spokesman for the Texas Department of Corrections, which has carried out many executions by lethal injection, the technician (it's never a doctor) is in fact supposed to swab the prisoner's arm first. One presumes other states employing this method do likewise.

There are several reasons for this. Apart from its usefulness as an antiseptic, alcohol causes blood vessels to rise to the surface, making it easier to insert the needle.

More important, there's a chance the prisoner's sentence might be delayed or commuted at the last minute.

It's happened before. In October, 1983 condemned murderer James Autry was strapped to a gurney for an hour in a Texas prison with saline solution dripping into his arm. (He was awake the whole time, incidentally.)

At about the time he was scheduled to die he was told he had received a stay of execution. He was returned to his cell and not executed until the following March. Whatever you think of the death penalty, you wouldn't want the guy to die of sheer carelessness.

Which brings us to what I think is the real reason for swabbing the arm--it allows the executioners to think of themselves as professionals doing a job rather than killers.

Interviews with members of execution teams reveal that they place great stock in following proper procedures. We may be certain that if the prisoner were to choke on a chicken bone during his last meal, the authorities would spare no effort to save his life an hour prior to ending it. Indeed, if you can believe Chuck Shepherd's News of the Weird column, that's already happened. "In Texas convicted murderer David Lee Herman slashed his throat on April 1 [1997], a day before his execution, but was patched up and given his lethal injection one day late," Shepherd writes.

Answer 2

I had no idea they used alcohol swabs !! How stupid. But my guess is, the family that is watching the lethal injection could no doubt sue the prison for not doing the procedure as any doctor would do it.

I have never gave this a thought. What a stupid thing to do. Their going to kill that person anyway. But oh well, whatever flips their cookie...

Answer 3

I think it is to avoid forcing foreign particles and bacteria from your skin into your bloodstream when they puncture you. Hygene is the magic wand that makes modern medicine work.

Oh...lethal injections! Just SOP with injections of all kinds, maybe it's kind of gallows humor, "wouldn't want you to get sick, now!"

Answer 4

WOW
I never thought about that! Cannot answer! Weird.
WHY do they bother?
I think lethal injection is FAR too easy way out anyway.

Answer 5

because the prisoner could get a stay of execution after the IV is stated and you wouldn't want him to have an infection.

the lethatl part is put in through tubing and not directly from a needle into the body

Answer 6

Hahahaha

They don't want you to come back and sue due to infection of the injection.

Hahahahaha

Answer 7

It's all part of the meeting the requirements of the "cruel and unusual punishment" clause. The death penalty is on thin enough ice as it is re: that clause, and not practicing basic medical procedures when administering the death penalty could jeopardize its constitutionality.

That said, your question is amusing and ironic. :)

Answer 8

Pray tell we wouldn't want the gentleman to get an infection!

Answer 9

Pretty much the same reason why kamikaze pilots wear helmets. There is no reason

Answer 10

For legal reasons or else they do it to seem humane. Stupid policy and procedure bull s h i t. Love the question though.