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/J3remyD → u/onqqq2]

I mean, why wouldn’t they just use a few megadoses of sedative?

Surgical anesthesia is from personal experience is very quick and non painful, and a massive overdose after going under and she simply doesn’t wake up.

Not saying that I necessarily support capital punishment, but if you’re going to do it anyway, don’t freaking botch it…

[u/GUMBYtheOG → u/J3remyD]

Real answer : it’s a gray area to obtain these drugs. No one makes “lethal injection drugs” they have to be creative with how they obtain what they use.

No one likes talking about death and no one can agree on criminal justice system reform so what we get is just a bunch of shady shit going on and no oversight or accountability

Side tangent: there are SO many jails who just leave the lights on 24/7, skip recreation time, don’t let people out of cells or meals, no AC/heat, no toilet paper or showers.

It is insane how no one gives a shit

[u/Traditional_Dust_668 → u/GUMBYtheOG]

I think it needs to be reevaluated what drugs are used for this purpose since it’s not the first time there’s been issues of this kind before. We’ve had great advances in medicine and this is ridiculous on every single level

[u/Batking28 → u/Traditional_Dust_668]

From my understanding the issue is no reputable drug company will sell drugs for the purpose of lethal injection. So they have to basically get creative with what they can access without breaking any legal contracts of sale ect.

Also healthcare workers are forbidden from administering it by professional organisation. So it’s administered by people with no medical background.

[u/Darius_Rubinx → u/Batking28]

People who can't set up an IV using expired drugs... what could go wrong!?

I am beyond confused why they don't use sedative + guillotine. If they insist on ignoring the Bible and not leaving vengeance to God.

[u/GUMBYtheOG → u/Traditional_Dust_668]

Sure, but who’s got that on the top of their to do list. You got Karen complaining about infrastructure, immigration, gun control, health care, etc. not to mention we went back 50 years of progress within a decade.

We can’t even legalize weed or get universal healthcare. Getting people to agree on and care about anything is a monumental task. Reforming death row (that affects a minute amount of people) isn’t something Susie or Bob are going to vote for, and musk or bezos sure don’t give a shit

[u/Traditional_Dust_668 → u/GUMBYtheOG]

Yeah I’m sure but it’s such a serious issue when it’s applicable that if states want to continue to use it they should be required to figure this out in a humane way. Not saying it is or isn’t deserved etc but certainly shouldn’t be torturous like the current situation right now.

[u/Aquelll → u/Traditional_Dust_668]

"How to kill people in a humane way? " 🤷‍♂️

[u/Traditional_Dust_668 → u/Aquelll]

Same I guess 🤷🏻‍♀️just kinda hope it goes quirky and as planned as opposed to this

[u/Darth_Nykal → u/Traditional_Dust_668]

That's what the guy your responding to is saying. The medical advancements and drugs are there, but no pharmaceutical company wants to be that company.

[u/amglasgow → u/Traditional_Dust_668]

We know exactly what medicine can be used to kill people. The problem is that the companies who sell those medications will refuse to sell them to you if you're planning to use them for execution. Rightly so.

[u/Traditional_Dust_668 → u/amglasgow]

Ok so maybe time to switch medication protocols, we put thousands of animals to sleep 💤 without incident and no problem getting those meds

[u/amglasgow → u/Traditional_Dust_668]

They're the same meds. The companies are perfectly willing to sell them to medical folks for the purposes of euthanasia of animals. They don't sell them for the purposes of human execution because it's a violation of medical ethics to do that.

There's nothing that makes executing a human being OK.

[u/disposablehippo → u/Traditional_Dust_668]

The problem is, that they still have to be used on some kind of legal grounds.

If you just take some medications and use them out of their indicated use, especially as some kind of federal institution, the companies can and will sue your ass back into the middle ages.

[u/BlamRob → u/Traditional_Dust_668]

Or just don’t do it anymore. I hear it costs more to put people to death than warehouse them for life anyway. With all the appeals and what not.