Louisiana | Execution by nitrogen gas ‘ugly way to die’: MD

What is it like to be executed by nitrogen gas?

Dr. Jonathan Groner, a medical ethicist who studies capital punishment, has not witnessed an execution using this method, but he speculates about what happens to an inmate who is given pure nitrogen to inhale through a mask.

“They don’t go quietly, I will say that,” Groner, a professor of surgery at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, told “Banfield” on Wednesday.

A federal judge this week halted the state of Louisiana’s plans to execute an inmate for the first time through “nitrogen hypoxia.” State officials plan to appeal the judge’s decision, which raised questions about whether using nitrogen gas is a cruel and unusual punishment.

Groner said an inmate who is suddenly deprived of oxygen may try to hold their breath for an extended time. Ultimately, he said, they will suffocate and may experience seizures from lack of oxygen.

“It’s a pretty ugly way to die,” Groner said.

Death by nitrogen gas may take 10 minutes, Groner estimated. That is quicker than some lethal-injection procedures that have dragged on for hours, he said. By comparison, death by firing squad — a method used in South Carolina last week — is quickest, Groner said.

“I doubt someone actually feels a lot during a firing squad. By the time they recognize that they’ve been shot, they probably already are unconscious,” he said.

Last month, Louisiana inmate Jessie Hoffman Jr. filed a lawsuit seeking to block his March 18 execution date. His attorneys argued that nitrogen hypoxia infringes on Hoffman’s freedom to practice his religion, specifically Buddhist breathing and meditation exercises.

The 46-year-old inmate was convicted of the 1996 murder of Mary Elliott in New Orleans.

Source: newsnationnow.com, Michael Ramsey, March 13, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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