US Researchers Seek Lethal Injection Volunteers

U.S. researchers at two Universities are now accepting volunteers for an actual testing to determine whether or not lethal injection, one of the main methods of executing inmates in the United States, is painless or not.

The actual testing was set after the authors of a new study say lethal injection does not guarantee a fast or painless death.

U.S. researchers at the University of Miami and Fordham University say the anesthesia in the triple-drug cocktail used in U.S. executions is not always adjusted for body weight, so it may not always work well enough to block sensations caused by the other two drugs. They say prisoners may feel themselves choking to death, from a muscle-paralyzing drug, or feel a burning sensation as a third drug stops the heart.

To determine whether or not lethal injection is painless, the researchers set the actual testing using volunteers. The researchers said only a person who has undergone the lethal injection can say if the process is painless or not.

Volunteers will receive $3 million if they will live and tell about their experience. Otherwise, they will be given proper burial, said the researchers.