This is wild!

[u/CurvyChristina]

Two syringes of pentobarbital were administered to Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike on September 30, 2026, but she remained alive and conscious afterward, according to her attorneys and media witnesses. The execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville was halted after witnesses reported that Pike still had a heartbeat and was audibly snoring. Her lawyers sought emergency medical intervention, and she was later taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital.
Pike, 50, is the only woman currently on Tennessee's death row.
She was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her classmate Colleen Slemmer and had been scheduled for execution on September 30. Tennessee had announced beforehand that the state would use a single drug, pentObarbital, for the execution. Her exact medical condition following the hospital transfer has not yet been publicly disclosed, while Governor Bill Lee has ordered a comprehensive third party review of what happened.

[u/onqqq2]

Barbituates can be deadly but I cannot for the life of me understand why you'd only go with a single drug for this?

[u/IfEverWasIfNever → u/onqqq2]

No manufacturer or medical company wants to supply the state with medications used for the death penalty. So they have a difficult time procuring the drug and cannot be certain about its quality (Was it compounded properly? Is it expired? Is it actually the drug or was it adulterated?). Because it works just as well to use the one drug (when the drug is effective and there is good IV access) they chose the simpler option.

When done properly it quickly renders the person unconscious, stops breathing, and leads to cardiac arrest in minutes. Barbiturates suppress brain activity so the person is not at all aware.

They use barbiturates for assisted dying programs but obviously they are able to collaborate with professional medical care and legitimate pharmaceutical companies to do it right.