How Lethal Injection Actually Works https://allthatsinteresting.com/how-does-lethal-injection-work Finally, potassium chloride introduces enough of the first ingredient to stop the heart. The overflow of potassium interferes with the electrical impulses of the muscle, causing cardiac arrest. Once the potassium chloride is administered, the subject usually has about ten minutes left on earth–if all goes well. Lethal injection is the practice of injecting one or more drugs into a person (typically a barbiturate, paralytic, and potassium solution) for the express purpose of causing rapid death. The main application for this procedure is capital punishment, but the term may also be applied in a broader sense to include euthanasia and other forms of suicide. The drugs cause the person to become unconscious, stops their breathing, and causes a heart arrhythmia, in that order. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethal_injection Death by potassium chloride intravenous injection: evaluation of analytical detectability https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21923800/ Lethal injection of potassium chloride: first description of the pathological appearance of organs https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19924677/