Hanging death likely quick and painless

NEW YORK — Saddam Hussein probably felt no pain at his execution — unless the hangman was inexperienced, vengeful or both.

The former Iraqi dictator's trip to the gallows should have produced near-instant death, say medical experts, although prolonged suffering was possible if Saddam didn't fall far enough or with sufficient force.

Dr. Byron Bailey, associate professor of neurosurgery at the Medical University of South Carolina, said he expected Saddam to suffer a "hangman's fracture," a term used for the violent breaking of the C-2 vertebra below the base of the skull.

Aside from the vertebra fracture, a properly placed rope will snap the trachea and compress the jugular veins and carotid artery, cutting off all oxygen and blood to the brain. Anything less forceful may leave the victim to die over a few minutes by suffocation.

"A lot of people debate whether or not consciousness is lost immediately," said Dr. Lawrence Kobilinsky, a professor of forensic science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "I think consciousness is lost immediately, but nobody knows for sure. It's a philosophical question."

Two U.S. states — New Hampshire and Washington — permit hangings as capital punishment, usually as an alternative to lethal injection. The last hanging in the United States was in 1996 in Delaware.

Kobilinsky said hangings are believed to have originated almost 3,000 years ago in Persia, now known as Iran, which still carries them out.

Amnesty International, which supports a worldwide death-penalty ban, says Egypt, Japan, Jordan, Pakistan and Singapore, among others, also currently hang prisoners.