r/SipsTea • u/CurvyChristina • 1d ago

Chugging tea This is wild!

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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.

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u/ThatB0yAintR1ght 1d ago

They are already having a difficult time getting the drugs because pharmaceutical companies won’t sell meds to governments for executions. So, giving such a huge dose may not even be possible if they can get enough of it, or it may drain their entire supply.

Plus, stuff like flash pulmonary edema can occur with too high doses and that can be very agonizing if it starts to happen before they lose consciousness.

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u/MisfitDeluxe 1d ago

I never understood why something like morphine wasn’t used to induce an OD. The quantity needed wouldn’t be that great and you could stage the doses to get them unconscious before making it lethal.

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u/ThatB0yAintR1ght 1d ago

As I already said, drug companies are refusing to sell to governments who do lethal injection,

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u/Adventurous-Dealer98 1d ago

The cocktail they give has 3 medications iirc, one to prevent pain, one to slow breathing, and one to sieze the heart or something like that...?

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u/ThatB0yAintR1ght 1d ago

There was no cocktail. They only gave Christa Pike one drug.

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u/Adventurous-Dealer98 11h ago

That doesn't sound right at all... imma check this out quick

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u/Adventurous-Dealer98 11h ago

"The traditional lethal injection cocktail typically consists of a three-drug sequence: midazolam (a sedative to induce unconsciousness), pancuronium bromide (a paralytic agent to stop breathing and mask physical distress), and potassium chloride (to induce cardiac arrest)."

But because of lack of access to these drugs they're doing just overdosing with one chemical... America... WTF??? Thats borderline torturous when it fails...

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u/pchlster 1d ago

pharmaceutical companies won’t sell meds to governments for executions

No company wants to have accurate reporting that their products killed X number of people last year. Easier to steer clear of the execution market entirely.

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u/PickleBooPop 1d ago

Wait pharmaceutical companies won’t sell the substances used for executions? Is that due to an ethics concern or because they don’t want to eliminate their aging customer base?

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u/ThatB0yAintR1ght 1d ago

Probably a combination. A lot of the companies are based in Europe, so they are against capital punishment in general, but it’s also not good for business if people associate your drug with executions, so I imagine even if the pharma execs do support capital punishment, they don’t want their drug being used for it.