The air that I breathe
Reporting on a novel method of execution, which has been authorised for use by an Alabaman correctional facility in order to dispatch a death row inmate, the BBC's Tom Bateman affords me the opportunity to be a smart-arse, and earn petty points exposing unchecked misinformation at the corporation.
Kenneth Eugene Smith is to be executed by strapping an air-tight mask over his face and forcing him to inhale pure nitrogen, an inert gas that would starve his body of oxygen.
So far, so good; at least in terms of reporting that is. Where things go awry is in one of the arguments made against this method: that it represents a risk to those at Smith's side.
Medical experts and campaigners have warned about…the possibility of gas leaking from the mask and killing others in the room, including Mr Smith's religious advocate.
Tom Bateman, BBC News
Both Smith's spiritual advisor, Rev. Dr Jeff Hood, and Dr Joel Zivot, an associate professor in anaesthesiology, warn that any leak of nitrogen into the room could be fatal to others, with Hood going so far as to say: I have been warned repeatedly by various medical experts that I'm risking my life to do this.
And these assertions are made unchecked no less than three times in Bateman's article.
But, hang on a mo', isn't nitrogen inert? (confused)
Why, yes it is! It also makes up around 80% of the air we breathe; if it were that dangerous we'd all be screwed. What will kill Smith is not the nitrogen per se, but the lack of oxygen, as Bateman had earlier stated. Anyone exposed to any leaks will be unaffected, as long as there is still sufficient oxygen in the room; otherwise, the leak would likely have to be catastrophic to the point of blowout.
So, relax Dr Hood, you're in no danger. As for Dr Zivot, I hope for your patients' sake that your comments have been misrepresented, and you aren't really that stupid.
Reality, checked! (tick)
I make no assertion as to the humaneness of this method of execution, beyond the fact that its risks to others are humorously misrepresented. I genuinely laughed in disbelief when I read it. Nevertheless, I submitted an error notification to the BBC at newssiteerrors@bbc.co.uk; we shall see.
At the end of his article, Bateman notes: In 1996 a jury recommended life in prison without parole for Smith, but the judge overruled them and sentenced him to death.
Elsewhere, however, the story is finessed a little.
At his first trial the jury voted to sentence Smith to death. At a second trial the jury voted 11-1 to recommend life without parole but the judge overrode it and sentenced him to death.
Kent Faulk, AL.com
Probably a minor observation, but it feeds into the overall tenor that Bateman comes from a position of opposing capital punishment. And there was silly old me thinking that the world's most trusted international news broadcaster
™ only reports on stories from around the world fairly, impartially and without fear or favour.
I have no idea whether it was as a result of my error submission, or something else entirely, but I was both surprised and unsurprised when comparing the current article with the version I saw, held at the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Most of it's unchanged, except this.
Before:
Dr Joel Zivot, an associate professor in anaesthesiology at Emory University's School of Medicine, accused the Alabama authorities of a "terrible" track record of "cruel" executions.
Tom Bateman, BBC News, via the Wayback Machine
After (unchanged text highlighted in yellow):
Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air we breathe, passing in and out of the body harmlessly with every breath. But breathing pure nitrogen slowly deprives the body's cells and organs of oxygen, causing them to break down and eventually leading to death, said Dr Joel Zivot, an associate professor in anaesthesiology at Emory University's School of Medicine. He warns of unintended risks from the presence of pure nitrogen changing the oxygen-to-nitrogen ratio in the execution chamber, especially as Smith could hold his breath or move his head against the mask, or the equipment could leak. "Some of it will be exhaled [by Smith] along with carbon dioxide and some of it may leak out of the mask. And I think that that presents a real and material danger to this execution," Dr Zivot said. The Alabama Department of Corrections appears to have attempted to address this concern in the waiver form it sent to Dr Hood. It says there are "wall-mounted oxygen sensors" in the execution chamber. But it also warns the spiritual advisor of the generic risks posed when nitrogen rapidly displaces oxygen causing "loss of consciousness without warning". It urges him to stay at least three feet away from Smith at all times, warning of a "small area risk" of "nitrogen outflow". Dr Zivot believes the risk assessment amounts to a form of pseudo science, since execution by nitrogen has never been attempted, and it is not clear how long it will take Smith to die. "There is no science. This is just really pulling anecdotes and imagining and trying to think of what may occur based upon, again, other pieces of information that are really not at all a scientific inquiry." Dr Zivot also accused the Alabama authorities of a "terrible" track record of "cruel" executions.
Tom Bateman, BBC News
Closer, but still no cigar.
The atmospheric concentration of oxygen is 21% at sea-level. US OSHA guidelines recommend a minimum workplace concentration of 19.5%, below which is considered oxygen deficient
for workers, with a substantial margin for safety. But this has to be interpreted within the scope of the recommendation: having to provide safety for workers at different levels of exertion, altitude, etc.
In real terms, considering a zone of 1m around Smith's head, there would have to be a leak of 63L pure nitrogen to reduce the oxygen just to the OSHA safe lower level.* Under conditions of minimal exertion by those present, and considering the inevitable diffusion of gas between the zone of leakage and the remainder of the chamber, this is very much erring on the side of caution. As noted by the Alabama Department of Corrections, there are oxygen sensors within the chamber.
The sections highlighted in blue and green conflate two different issues: the danger to the guest of honour, and that to his companions. Just between us, I get the impression that, like Master Bateman, Dr Zivot may not be a capital punishment advocate and is reaching.
Naturally, these changes go unnoted and unexplained by the BBC's bucktooth-retarded editorial team.
* A zone of 1m represents a sphere of 1m radius, having a volume of 4188L. Reducing the oxygen from 21% to 19.5% represents a 1.5% increase in nitrogen, equivalent to 62.83L.
Associated Press
From the photo above, I estimated the chamber to have a volume of about 80m3, which would require a displacement of 1200L to reduce the overall atmospheric oxygen level to 19.5%. This assumes that the room allows no transfer with the outside, which doesn't appear to be the case.
A little more misinformation on the method of execution, or more specifically the effects of nitrogen, this time from USA Today.
Nitrogen, a colorless, odorless gas, makes up about 80% of the air we breathe. It isn't deadly until it is separated from oxygen.
Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA Today
Umm, donning my pedantry hat again, nitrogen isn't deadly at all, it's the lack of oxygen that's deadly. Much the same effect could be obtained by administering any inert, oxygenless gas.
Another petty point won. Yay me!