Tennessee executes Byron Black despite concerns about his defibrillator

The state of Tennessee, part of the southern United States, has executed a man with an implanted defibrillator despite concerns that the medical device could attempt to restart his heart, thereby prolonging his death.

On Tuesday, state officials administered a lethal injection to Byron Black, a 69-year-old man convicted for a 1988 triple homicide.

Black’s death came after his lawyers failed in a last-ditch effort on Monday to halt the execution, on the basis that the defibrillator would continually try to shock his heart as he died.

The Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution bars cruel and unusual punishment, and Black’s lawyers argued that executing him without first disabling the defibrillator would violate that prohibition, as the shocks would cause him extreme pain.

But the US S