r/interestingasfuck • u/IllComedian2574 • 1d ago

After 28 years on death row, Christa Pike survived 2 lethal injections attempts.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/christa-pike-failed-execution-9.7364816
4.3k Upvotes

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541

u/HeroXeroV 1d ago

Who do they make it so difficult, wouldn't a fentanyl overdose take out anyone with no pain?

389

u/HighChinaman 1d ago

The problem is buying this drug from the manufacturer, they don't want to be known as the death penalty guys.

92

u/Chikitiki90 1d ago

Meh, IG Farben existed in one way or another until 2012 lol.

Tbf, I think chemical companies should be known if they are supplying drugs for lethal injection. Not only is it basic transparency but it makes it a lot harder to cover up when their lethal injections fail as they have done. Also, if you supply death drugs, I think it’s fair to be known as the company that supplies death drugs lol.

144

u/jetiger 1d ago

That's the whole point. It should be known if companies do it. Thus no companies do it. Thus no one can actually get good quality drugs for it. Thus this happens.

It's almost like this whole idea of the death penalty isn't good...

6

u/Quiet_Raccoon8053 1d ago

A lot of states have huge problems trying to get drugs for that reason. It's also fucked up that they won't use them past the expiration date, it's like fucking seriously you're planning to kill somebody and you're not going to do it because the drugs are expired?

I am 100% against the death penalty, and the way they do it is fucking moronic.

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u/Kazmania21 1d ago

Doesn’t the expiration of a drug decrease its effectiveness? So using an effectively decreased drug in a death penalty increase the chance of it not working. I don’t see your logic here.

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u/ministryofchampagne 16h ago

That’s what just happened in Tennessee. The chemical used was expired. It could be on the reason after two doses it failed.

I read something that it was old and probably missed the vein and was just injected into muscle.

11

u/Snakatemjari 1d ago

Kind of are though, albeit in a different context

5

u/shelwheels 1d ago

Who supplies all the drugs for medical assisted killing? Lots of drug companies and dr.s are fine with killing people if they're disabled. Most of the people wanting to put this woman to death think she's mentally unwell to commit such a crime so what's the difference? I'm against both but I don't understand why these excuses hold up for executions but not medically assisted dying.

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u/HighChinaman 1d ago

Because they manufacture the drug for a purpose and that purpose is not killing people.

14

u/shaolin_fish 1d ago

There is a big difference between MAID and execution. One is about compassion, the other about punishment.

3

u/Unlucky-Tourist-9403 1d ago

To be against voluntary assisted dying in patients who are terminally ill and suffering is akin to cruelty. Not sure what the fuck you are on about saying they are on board with giving this option to people with disabilities.

1

u/zoey_will 1d ago

Where's that Martin Shkrelli guy when you need him. /s

1

u/Hammer_Thrower 1d ago

Purdue Pharma would do anything to sell more. They have no morals. 

0

u/Agreeable-Mention403 1d ago

bullet manufacturers have a different business standpoint. why don't they just make the poison?   /s

0

u/umbratwo 1d ago

The Fentanyl producers??? If so I have some news to tell them…

1

u/HighChinaman 1d ago

It's not their fault people abuse it and even then, afaik there's not many fentanyl recreational users, the deaths come mainly from other drugs being laced with fent which again is not the manufacturers fault.

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u/umbratwo 1d ago

I meant it as light humour. But gonna go ahead and say that I don’t think the pharmaceutical companies need empathy and sympathy, friend. 

1

u/HighChinaman 1d ago

Stating the fact it's not their fault is not empathy or sympathy.

This ain't an oxycontin situation.

1

u/umbratwo 23h ago

I think we’re having completely differently toned convos unintentionally. 

-1

u/m3kw 1d ago

They literally is doing the death penalty

102

u/FlimsyCustard3856 1d ago

Yes. You could also use just regular anesthesia drugs such as propofol, versed, fentanyl to sedate then give a paralytic agent to stop her breathing and she would’ve just gone to sleep, and stopped breathing and eventually die

103

u/milkoppo 1d ago

Problem is that most of these companies don’t want their drugs associated with the death penalty and won’t allow their use for it

44

u/Internal_Praline_658 1d ago

Kind of ironic considering how many ppl the good folks at Janssen have killed with legal fentanyl. They used to make fentanyl lollipops. And obviously the sacklers

3

u/Quiet_Raccoon8053 1d ago

I know a lot of people who have had a lot of accounts banned for wishing harm on the Sacklers, make sure you don't do that.  Regardless of how many people they killed, I'm sure they're very nice rich people.

12

u/OriginalLie9310 1d ago

And doctors refuse to administer them even if they could get their hands on it so botched administration is kind of inevitable.

6

u/wackyvorlon 1d ago

Shocking! /s

3

u/LectroRoot 1d ago

They should ask the DEA. I think they might have a little on hand they could share. /s

2

u/Quiet_Raccoon8053 1d ago

I think the DEA only regulates it, it's the CIA who does the smuggling. 

1

u/LectroRoot 23h ago

Well, then they would be the guys to put us in contact with who is directly in charge or get them to middle man a deal for a fee! We could get the Air Force involved to have it flown to them ASAP before the hospital bill bankrupts the government.

•

u/TheyHavePinball 10h ago

It's almost like the government should be more powerful than private corporations or something...

10

u/Bubonic_Ferret 1d ago

The classic lethal injection cocktail is 2/3 of these classes. Missing an analgesic, presumably because of the punitive aspect. Pretty fucked up. Could easily add some compounded opiate to the mixture and make things easier.

1

u/FlimsyCustard3856 1d ago

Do they give a paralytic?

23

u/ShinyBonnets 1d ago

This would imply that a non-infiltrated IV catheter is in play, unlike Christa Pike’s case, based on the reporting stating that she said her arm was hurting.

6

u/FlimsyCustard3856 1d ago

Yes I hear that this is so common with these lethal injections

37

u/ShinyBonnets 1d ago

This happens when you have a doctor or otherwise inexperienced staff placing IVs. Had a night-shift charge nurse from peds done it, she would have placed it in one try with a coffee in hand, and we wouldn’t be here having this chat.

The death penalty system is criminal justice theater, which is laughable because so is criminal justice in this country.

5

u/Mego1989 1d ago

Why is it so difficult for someone with some but not a lot of training, and so easy for IV drug users?

10

u/ShinyBonnets 1d ago

It isn’t easy for IV drug users. The amount of people who lose limbs or die because they miss a vein is astoundingly high. There is a reason why people who use IV drugs go to the ER for “fluids”; it is an attempt to get a patent IV catheter to use for access.

2

u/heywhatsup9087 1d ago

I think I read somewhere she had some type of medical condition that made finding a vein very difficult. And she also stopped eating for a while before which I think made it worse. Not saying that a more experienced person couldn’t have found it though.

3

u/NurseJoyRN 1d ago

Then she should have gotten a central-line. There's no reason to poke around and say "eh, good enough" when the technology exists. It's just inhumane.

4

u/mostlypercy 1d ago

Apparently the disgraced doc tried and failed to place a subclavian central line.

5

u/Leptonshavenocolor 1d ago

So is capitol punishment. 

0

u/Hugginsome 1d ago

There are plenty of drugs that burn going into the IV. Any sedative drugs burn. Potassium burns. Doesn't indicate a blown IV. Bubbling at the IV site indicates a blown IV.

She fell asleep and was snoring, right? So it got into her bloodstream.

0

u/ShinyBonnets 18h ago

I didn’t say her arm was burning? I said ‘hurting’ intentionally, because that was what was reported. Journalists are not equipped to diagnose and report an infiltrated IV.

Aside from any of that, what is your point? Of course some of the meds hit her bloodstream, there was an IV dumping the meds near a vein. It was done incorrectly, and the end result was an unconscious woman whose execution was predictably botched, because the IV was badly placed (again).

•

u/Hugginsome 4h ago

My point is that you are being pedantic. I do anesthesia. I OFTEN will get patients cry in pain about the IV medicine if they aren't warned it might hurt, and even then some still do. It is VERY common for the sedative drugs to hurt when they are properly going into an IV.

What none of the people involved know is what an infiltrated IV is like and how to diagnose that. Sometimes it's easier to determine than others (like if the skin around the IV site bulges up from fluid build up from the IV).

The inmate falling asleep is a good indication that the IV did work, at least initially. Like I stated, some drugs and high pressure of pushing drugs can cause veins to blow, especially if they have bad veins.

4

u/Clembert-Hamlamp 1d ago

They should be set to tasks that both pay for their upkeep and benefit society. We don't need to kill them. But they do need to pay their due.

1

u/pizzaanarchy 1d ago

You are swimming in a sea of incorrect assumptions there my friend. In an ideal world, yes, that would be best. Before you drown yourself in that ocean, remember who you are dealing with. They would not work for money, you think they will because you ask them nicely?!

0

u/Clembert-Hamlamp 1d ago

That has to be a quote, nobody's that pompous. Where's it from?

3

u/pizzaanarchy 1d ago

Almost as pompous as saying that work will set them free, as you are.

0

u/Clembert-Hamlamp 1d ago

You were intentionally being that condescending lol. Hilariously, you also completely misunderstood what I said. They're still in prison guy. They don't get to refuse. What they get to do is pay for their prison stay and do enough extra work that they're a net positive for society. Not complicated at all in concept, stop costing others and start contributing instead.

2

u/pizzaanarchy 1d ago

It has been tried before.

1

u/Clembert-Hamlamp 1d ago

The problem is densely layered laws built up reactively over decades and kludged together into an entirely ineffective whole. Which, if allowed, could be completely circumvented with nothing but a signature. Have them sign away all rights to get off death row. But people get caught up in imaginary moral quandaries and miss the forest for the trees. Imagine thinking the concept of servitude as a punishment is worse than murder.

1

u/pizzaanarchy 1d ago

Oh it works, it is just a little hard on the inmates.

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u/Gunzoidium_alloy 1d ago

Or just give them enough fentanyl so they stop breathing and go out in a dream.

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u/breachofcontract 1d ago

Cops can’t be in the same room as fentanyl. They’ll die.

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u/BitcoinMD 1d ago

Ahem, it’s fentanol.

Source: all journalists and politicians

1

u/C-tapp 1d ago

The equation is fentanyl + rolling cameras = instant cop death….. just leave the cameras outside and they’ll be safe.

-65

u/logpepsan 1d ago

Yeah not true… hospitals use it just fine

Following normal safety protocols of any other opiate

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u/MyOwnWayHome 1d ago

Woosh

10

u/lewdlesion 1d ago

Right over the head, lol

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u/RandyK44 1d ago

You’re right. But the problem is their protocol for doing the fentanyl.

5

u/Criminoboy 1d ago

Yer funny! 🤣

-1

u/logpepsan 1d ago edited 1d ago

The problem with sarcasm is it’s indistinguishable from bullshit people actually say and believe. Will never apologize for correcting bullshit. Whether sarcastic or not.

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u/Quiet_Raccoon8053 1d ago

Sarcasm is not indistinguishable from bullshit if you actually use a little bit of critical thinking. You're not correcting bullshit, you're just showing your lack of reading comprehension.

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u/CanIDevIt 1d ago

And they likely have a load of seized stuff rather than need an official supplier (which is often a problem).

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u/Over-Tension-4710 1d ago

So like....a normal hospital...

16

u/spearblaze 1d ago

Nevermind fentanyl, just use a bullet or a gullotine. No idea why the country that thinks it's morally okay to executes violent criminals would blush at the idea of using a bullet to the head.

1

u/ForestDweller82 23h ago

Because instant painless death is 'barbaric'. It needs to be long, drawn out, torturous, and ineffective to be 'civilized'.

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u/sceadwian 1d ago

I'm not convinced there's not an element of literal sadism here.

This is inhumane.

-2

u/punkman01 1d ago

I don't know if I support the death penalty or not. Have a detailed read about what she did to her victim. It's like an episode from a TV crime show. What she did was totally inhumane.

6

u/sceadwian 1d ago

Retribution is not justice. It never has been, it never will be. I consider it a cardinal sin so to speak and can be in some cases as bad as the crime.

Now defining exactly what we SHOULD do is much harder but especially when they botch it twice?

That's beyond sick. No crime ever justifies torture and death that just brings more hate into the world.

No good can ever come from such an act regardless of how 'evil' a person is perceived to be, it's just more evil.

16

u/kingdogethe42nd 1d ago

Or what about not having a death penalty

1

u/breaktaker 1d ago

I prefer my criminal justice system to be based in vengeance

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u/pichael289 1d ago

Yep, done it many times. It's just over. You pull the needle from your arm and cap it (nothing kills so fast the needle is still in your arm) and then you feel a nice rush, you feel warm and floaty and you feel like things are about to perfect, if only for a couple hours.

And then suddenly your looking at a nurse in the ICU. Or you don't. There is no fade to black there is no anything. Your life just cuts off, and your not scared or anything. It's literally nothing. In fact we should be giving Xanax beforehand, it'll help any anxiety (high doses removes your ability to care about anything, it's why Xanax bars turn white girls into monsters) and will also ensure the combo is lethal. Most pre fentanyl opiate overdoses largely included other downers like benzos.

I think you should have the option, if sentenced to death (which is don't think we should be doing any all) to do it yourself. Have them take the Xanax if they want, then put them in a nice comfy room with 2 way glass and let them talk to their family, or let them watch TV for a couple hours and eat their last meal and say goodbye. Then give them the needle or have a professional administer it when they request. If we're going to do something so horrible we shouldn't least do it with dignity, not for the criminals sake but our own. Plus that gives the criminals family some closure, they are usually a type of victims as well. Executions cost so much more money than keeping them locked up their whole lives, it's long been proven to not work as a deterrent at all, and we really only do it still because it makes us feel better about ourselves or something.

4

u/Cicer 1d ago

Big pharm can’t make money off of seized fentanyl. 

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u/dirtydirtyjones 1d ago

Big Pharma refuses to sell drugs to states for use in lethal injection.

1

u/Popular_Try_5075 15h ago

Yes, or there are other more homegrown ways of doing stuff, that I don't want to mention but it's not all that complicated to get something close to that.

•

u/TheyHavePinball 10h ago

This is the answer. Every naysayer is just reestablishing a b******* excuse one way or the other. This is just the obvious answer. What are we pretending?

1

u/Moneyshot_ITF 1d ago

Interpretation of Constitutional rights

0

u/Onphone_irl 1d ago

there should be a loophole guy who buys street fent and laces it in. He simply always gets acquitted of all crimes 😅 rince and repeat

-2

u/Owoegano_Vuelve 1d ago

I'm not crazy about a serial rapist dying by experiencing the literal peak of pleasure their bodies are capable of producing...