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Volume 354:2525-2527 June 15, 2006 Number 24 Next

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On April 21, 2006, Willie Brown, Jr., was executed by lethal injection in North Carolina for the 1983 killing of a convenience-store clerk. The execution might have received little attention if not for the fact that Brown's electroencephalogram (EEG) was monitored during the procedure. This apparently unprecedented monitoring was a response to concern that some inmates have not been properly anesthetized during executions by lethal injection and may therefore have experienced painful deaths that violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.^1,2

The EEG device used during Brown's execution was a bispectral index (BIS) monitor. Made by Aspect Medical . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

Dr. Steinbrook (rsteinbrook@attglobal.net) is a national correspondent for the Journal.

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