Yesterday, a condemned inmate in Ohio won a delay of sentence for "cruel and unusual" punishment.  It seems the technicians spent over two hours trying to find a suitable vein to insert an intravenous catheter without success.  It is difficult to find suitable veins in people who have previously abused IV drugs.  The judge granted a ten day stay.

However, what this prisoner experienced is really not that much different than what many patients have experienced in a hospital intensive care unit.  While starting an IV can hurt, starting a central line or a inserting a catheter to perform a cardiac catheterization is also painful. 

This judgment sets a dangerous precedent, what if a patient decides to sue their doctor for torture?

One of the difficulties that prisons face is trying to find appropriately trained personnel to insert IV's into condemned prisoners.  Most (if not all) state medical licensing boards prohibit physicians and other medical personnel from participating in executions.  This means the most experienced people cannot help when difficulty is encountered in starting an IV.  Perhaps the prisons can hire a retired or unlicensed physician as a consultant for IV access during executions.

There is certainly nothing cruel about starting an IV.  This inmate must have injected himself many times in the past directly in his veins.  So this is neither cruel nor unusual. 

The best idea I ever heard for executing prisoners would be to put them in a chamber and fill it with pure nitrogen.  That would be safe (for those observing), effective, pain-free and cheap.