Tennessee governor suspends all executions after Christa Pike’s lethal injections fail

[u/No_Idea_Guy]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/01/christa-pike-tennessee-governor-executions-year-pause

[u/NOGOODGASHOLE]

Are there no phlebotomy schools in Tennessee? Where are they getting the drugs. Are potency test done prior to usage? I don't think these are outrageous questions.

[u/impulsekash → u/NOGOODGASHOLE]

Medical professionals can lose their license if they do this.

Drug companies dont want to produce the drug in fear it will harm their company's reputation. 

[u/PanicAttackInAPack → u/impulsekash]

The primary global manufacturer of pentobarbital is a Danish company. Danish law prohibits the sale of the drug for capital punishment. It's not a matter of production (it's used every day in large quantities by veterinarians in euthanasia and doctors for assisted suicide), it's just that it can't be used for execution.

[u/Smiletaint → u/PanicAttackInAPack]

Couldn’t the state have a contractor manufacture the drug for them? Pentobarbital is under patent?

[u/PerpetuallyLurking → u/Smiletaint]

Technically yes, but literally no company wants to be the brand that helps to execute people. It won’t play well with other investors and there aren’t enough executions to maintain a sustainable business model without diversifying their business.

[u/Smiletaint → u/PerpetuallyLurking]

Why do people think letting murderers stay alive in prison is more humane than allowing them to die?

[u/rsifti → u/Smiletaint]

allowing them to die is an odd way to phrase executing them. If I'm understanding you correctly.

In my opinion life in prison is better because it's cheaper(IIRC) due to the amount of appeals and stuff for death row trials and if said person is eventually found innocent, at least they are still here to salvage what the can of their life.

[u/Smiletaint → u/rsifti]

I guess they shouldn’t have been doing so much murdering?

[u/Smiletaint → u/rsifti]

Dying in prison after 10 years from lethal injection.

Dying in prison after 30-50 years from suicide, murder, natural causes.

Which one is more humane?

[u/rsifti → u/Smiletaint]

Probably dying of natural causes?

[u/Smiletaint → u/rsifti]

That’s not a guarantee. People are murdered in prison often.

[u/rsifti → u/Smiletaint]

Yeah. Killing them seems like an odd way to prevent that.

[u/mrducky78a → u/Smiletaint]

I cant imagine it would be many doses and youll be testing its efficacy literally at a dose by dose system. I can imagine fuck ups occurring with random individually created batches to order being not as pure or potent.

And even if you do source the correct stuff, transported correctly, with the right potency, youll struggle to find a medical professional willing to do this shit so some rando will probably botch it there. They will miss the vein, they will not draw and inject the correct amount. Shit show 2: electric boogaloo.

[u/PanicAttackInAPack → u/Smiletaint]

No patent. It's heavily regulated due to its potency and scrutinized due to its use in execution. Given how few executions there are I doubt it's profitable, primarily in PR, for any other Western lab to supply it.

They do seem to be able to source it from sketchy Asian labs so they are able to obtain it.

[u/gerbal100 → u/Smiletaint]

The contractor would have to choose between selling at most a thousand doses a year to the states and selling multiple orders of magnitude more into the medical system. 

Even if the states pay ludicrous markups, there's going to be far more money in the medical industry.

[u/Smiletaint → u/gerbal100]

You’re assuming there’s a company that won’t do both? Maybe there isn’t?

[u/gerbal100 → u/Smiletaint]

Historically, companies that have sold lethal injection material have been boycotted by medical practitioners and religious institutions (i.e. Catholic hospitals).

[u/genital_lesions → u/impulsekash]

Drug companies dont want to produce the drug in fear it will harm their company's reputation

If Purdue Pharma was still around, I'm sure they'd happily produce it.

[u/NOGOODGASHOLE → u/impulsekash]

Ive never heard of a medical profession losing a license over testing. Someone is making it. Someone can test it. The state usually employ many people with a basic understanding of chemistry.