when people on death row die by leathel injection,what is actually used,what substance?

Answer 1

Lethal injection drugs
The below three drugs are a representation of a typical lethal injection cocktail as practiced in the United States for capital punishment.

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Sodium thiopental
Lethal Injection dosage: 5 grams
Sodium thiopental (US trade name: Pentothal) is an ultra-short acting barbiturate, often used for anesthesia induction and for medical induced comas. The typical anesthesia induction dose is 3-5 mg/kg (a person who weighs 200 pounds, or 91 kilograms, would get a dose of about 300 mg). Loss of consciousness is induced within 30-45 seconds at the typical dose, while a 5 gram dose - 14 times the normal dose - is likely to induce unconsciousness in 10 seconds.

Thiopental reaches the brain within seconds and attains a peak brain concentration of about 60% of the total dose in about 30 seconds. At this level, the patient is unconscious. Within 5 to 20 minutes the percentage in the brain falls to about 15% of the total dose, since the drug redistributes to the rest of the body. At this concentration in the brain, the anesthetic effects wear off and consciousness returns. This is the typical pharmacokinetics for the induction dose.

The half-life of this drug is about 11.5 hours[2], and the concentration in the brain remains at around 5-10% of the total dose during that time. When a 'mega-dose' is administered, as in lethal injection, the concentration in the brain during the tail phase of the distribution stays higher than the peak concentration found in the induction dose for anesthesia. This is the reason why an ultra-short acting barbiturate, such as thiopental, can be used for long-term induction of medical comas.

After a 5 gram dose consciousness will be regained in about 5 to 6 half-lives, which occurs in about 57-69 hours. The effects of such a high dose, however, includes profound respiratory depression (depression of the brainstem respiratory center) and vascular collapse (vasodilatation and myocardial depression), which is in itself lethal.

Thiopental historically has been one of the most commonly used and studied drugs for the induction of comas. Protocols vary with how the medication is given, but the typical doses are anywhere from 500 mg up to 1.5 grams. It is likely that these data were used to develop the initial protocols for lethal injection of giving 1 gram of thiopental to induce the coma. Now, most states use 5 grams to be absolutely certain about its effectiveness.

Barbiturates are the same class of drugs used in medically assisted suicide. In euthanasia protocols, the typical dose of thiopental is 20 mg/kg[3] and a 91 kilogram man would receive 1.82 grams. The lethal injection dose used in capital punishment is therefore about 3 times more than the dose used in euthanasia.

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Pancuronium bromide
Lethal Injection dosage: 100 milligrams
Pancuronium bromide (Trade name: Pavulon) is a non-depolarizing muscle relaxant (a paralytic agent) that blocks the action of acetylcholine at the motor end-plate of the neuromuscular junction. 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.

The typical dose for pancuronium bromide is 0.1 mg/kg (a person who weighs 200 pounds, or 91 kilograms, would get a dose of around 9mg). With a 100 milligram dose, the onset to paralysis occurs in around 15 to 30 seconds, and the duration of paralysis is around 4 to 8 hours. Paralysis of respiratory muscles will lead to death in a considerably shorter time.

Pancuronium bromide is a derivative of the alkaloid malouetine from the plant Malouetia bequaertiana. [4]

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Potassium chloride
Lethal Injection dosage: 100 mEq (milliequivalents)
Potassium is an electrolyte that is 98% within the cells. The 2% remaining outside of the cell has great implications for cells that generate action potentials. Typically, doctors give patients potassium when there is insufficient potassium, called hypokalemia, in the blood. The potassium can be given orally which is the safest route, or it can be given intravenously in which case there are strict rules and hospital protocols on the rate at which it is given.

The usual intravenous dose is 10-20 MEQ per hour and it is given slowly since it takes time for the electrolyte to equilibrate into the cells. When used in lethal injection, bolus potassium injection affects the electrical conduction of heart muscle. Elevated potassium, or hyperkalemia, causes the resting electrical activity of the heart muscle to be lower than normal.

Making the resting potential even lower slows conduction and reduces the ability of the muscle to depolarize and contract. EKG changes include faster repolarization (peaked T-waves), PR interval prolongation, widening of the QRS, and eventual sine-wave formation and asystole. The heart eventually stops in diastole. 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.

Answer 2

Sodium thiopental: to induce a state of unconsciousness intended to last while the other two injections take effect.
Pancuronium/Tubocurarine: to stop all muscle movement except the heart. This causes muscle paralysis, collapse of the diaphragm, and would eventually cause death by asphyxiation.
Potassium chloride: to stop the heart from beating, and thus cause death

in a series,one after another

Answer 3

it is actually a combination of drugs. sodium thiopental to render the prisoner unconscious, pancuronium/tubocurarine to stop all muscle movement including the diaphragm (which stops breathing), and potassium chloride which stops the heart.

Answer 4

I think they give them phenol barbetol and another sedative.

Answer 5

same stuff they use to put down fido!

Answer 6

WARNING!!!! WARNING!!!!! DO NOT ANSWER THIS QUESTION, SHE WILL KILL YOU!!!

LOL