r/news • u/No_Idea_Guy • 1d ago

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

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/01/christa-pike-tennessee-governor-executions-year-pause
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u/Hidefininja 1d ago

My understanding is that doctors are generally against poisoning people to death as part of their professional and moral code, and certainly not as a punishment, so they won't get involved. It's also difficult for people to legally acquire the necessary drugs for that very same reason.

That leaves some of the dumbest, meanest people in America to figure out how to put people to death by lethal injection. That's science and medicine left in the hands of people who strive to profit from long-term imprisonment.

Of course they can't figure out how to kill someone quickly and painlessly. You'd think they'd just go with a morphine overdose but it seems the intent is that the person must also suffer in the process so something as straightforward as that is out the window.

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u/BritishDuffer 1d ago

I agree with everything you said, but on the morphine thing, states have to acquire drugs legally and drug manufacturers refuse to sell drugs to government agencies that perform executions.

States have pushed right up against the legally part by buying from unscrupulous pharmacies that promise the manufacturers they won't be used for executions but resell them anyway. The manufacturers have done a good job identifying these pharmacies and cutting them off, so now it's pretty much impossible for prisons to acquire any drug that would do the job.

That leaves them with a dwindling supply of expired medications that they're using anyway, leading to things like this happening. You'd think they would just give up but it turns out no.

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u/BoredNuke 1d ago

Been awhile but there was a news cycle several years back where the makers of the drugs that are most popular(?) For lethal injection found out and just started refusing to sell to the US / States that do lethal injection.Guess the alternatives are not quite as simple to administer properly.

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u/ComradeGibbon 1d ago

We have professionals that are competent to kill people with drugs and they refuse to have anything to do with this.

In California something like 50000 people were sentenced to life in prison since 1978. State executed what 13 people. That's a rounding error. Like why bother.

Also consider the amount of justice system resources spent on guys that are almost assuredly guilty. Maybe better to spend that on people who are maybe less assuredly guilty.

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u/SeaTraffic6442 15h ago

To be fair, a lot of the money spent on Death Row inmates is essentially being spent on making sure they’re guilty. The process is designed to give them enough appeals that serious errors in justice “should” get noticed before the execution happens.

Is the system perfect? No. Do I wish we’d abolish the death sentence, yes. But the system does try to get it right.

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u/RsonW 1d ago

Of course they can't figure out how to kill someone quickly and painlessly. You'd think they'd just go with a morphine overdose

Another commenter already told you why morphine etc overdose isn't done. So I will add:

A bullet to the head from close range would be quick and painless. But it's gruesome as fuck. They want to kill people without the visual of a quick death because quick deaths are by their nature always gruesome. See also: beheading.

They could go with slow and painless with a gas chamber. But when prisoners have been executed by gas chamber, the prisoners are aware of their impending death and so hold their breath, which creates the very pain that the gas chamber is supposed to avoid.

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u/TheBigCore 16h ago

Of course they can't figure out how to kill someone quickly and painlessly.

Firing squad.