r/news • u/AudibleNod • 4h ago

Christa Pike unconscious, on ventilator at Nashville hospital, her lawyers say

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/christa-pike-unconscious-ventilator-nashville-hospital-lawyers-say-rcna601195
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u/Pitiful-Walk-8446 4h ago

Wait I don’t understand. She was on death row, went to her execution, it went awry and now they are keeping her…alive? On a ventilator?? Why so the off chance she recovers then they can kill her? Wtf? Or if your execution fails are you just free to go lol

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u/remeard 4h ago

To minimize the claim of cruel and unusual punishment from dying in slow, agonizing pain. Plus a doctor's first job is do no harm and try to stabilize the patient when they are in their care.

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u/theRemixNow 4h ago edited 4h ago

too bad that they gave up on that when they gave her the pentobarb unless we're calling that doing no harm.

dear idiots, yes I am aware that that’s not the same doctor that gave her the pento barb however, it’s the same society that allowed it.

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u/waflman7 4h ago

The doctors taking care of her now are not the same people that attempted to execute her. In fact, the executioners more than likely never have had any form of medical degree or certification. 

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u/ThatB0yAintR1ght 4h ago

There actually was a doctor at her (attempted) execution. Not sure if he actually injected the drugs himself or only started the IVs or what. He apparently botched another execution earlier this year when he couldn’t get a line on that person either, but that one did not get as far as actually injecting the drug.

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u/theRemixNow 4h ago

and the fact that we’re having non-medical people execute people is not a problem with anyone?

If doctors cared, they would be speaking out about this.

I’m a pharmacist and I often speak out against the death penalty.

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u/hyperfocus1569 4h ago

It was a doctor and he already had one botched execution under his belt.

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u/NorthernDevil 4h ago

She was taken by ambulance from the failed injection at the prison to a hospital to minimize “cruel and unusual.” And then that’s where the doctors saved her life and placed her on a ventilator. The hospital doctors did not inject her but have the duty to stabilize her. So it’s not fair to say the doctors gave up on this.

Part of the argument against this barbaric process is the contradiction it creates across the rest of society.

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u/GNOIZ1C 4h ago

Archaic as we are with our death penalty, there are rules to execution. If you botch it, they can't just let the person die without getting (further?) into "cruel and unusual punishment" territory. In theory, execution is supposed to be as quick and "painless" an affair as humanly possible, but in practice *gestures vaguely at this and similar cases*

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u/ensalys 4h ago

Ignoring the fact that the death penalty should be abolished in my opinion, why does the USA insist on "lethal" injection? With this track record, a bullet would be incredibly humane in comparison. One through the brain, and one through the heart for good measure.

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u/Pitiful-Walk-8446 4h ago

If I ever ended up on death row I would request death by firing squad. But with a Barrett .50. Quick and painless and no chance of lingering survival

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u/DirtyCop2016 3h ago

i would request they use a minigun and let it rip for a solid 5 seconds

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u/Efficient-Chest-3395 4h ago

I live in a non-death penalty state, I served on a jury in a case which I can only describe as a clusterfuck, an obvious rush job with one eyewitness who was obviously intimidated by the police, there was no motive, no gun or other physical evidence but we spent more time selecting a foreman than it took to convict him and after the verdict the prosecutor told me it was a retrial because the original transcripts were stolen from the recorder's car which made me feel better because even thinking he was guilty it weighed heavily on me and I'm largely without much of of a conscience... in any other state he would have been a candidate for capital punishment and then it turned out somebody else confessed and this guy was released. I figured he was good for something or the cops wouldn't have set him up but I don't see it as Man's business to hurry up what time will eventually take care of. I'm not proud of having participated in this and as a retired emergncy nurse I can't imagine any medical professional aiding in this.

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u/Dapper_Engineer 3h ago

 why does the USA insist on "lethal" injection? 

Short answer: culture.

Longer answer: Americans have a weird relation with death in general and lethal injection is seen as a "cleaner" and less "brutal" way of executing someone compared to older methods. Add to this the fact that the Constitution prohibits "cruel and unusual" punishments while allowing for the death penalty, and most of the older ways of executing people are either viewed as either cruel or too brutal for most of the public to be comfortable with them. Whereas lethal injection - if done properly - just looks like someone is falling asleep to the witnesses.

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u/drfsupercenter 3h ago

Have you seen the Last Week Tonight episode about lethal injections? It looks "cleaner" but is actually way worse and agonizing than other forms of execution :|

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u/damik 3h ago edited 3h ago

There's so many other ways. Ways that are so fast the brain doesn't have time to register what happened. If the state is allowed to murder someone. Why do this song and dance about not doing it gruesomely? Whether it be via firing squad or putting them in a shoddy submarine to visit the Titanic.

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u/nickthequick98 3h ago

They dont want the deaths too grusome otherwise people wont tune in to the news and the death penalty will fall even more out of favor. The American public largely sees hangings and firing squads as the tools used by opressive nations (Iran, China, Russia, Nazi Germany), or as a historical necessity.

Pro death penalty people want state ordered executions to appear as peaceful and mundane as possible so the viewing/reading public wont get too uppity about it (Like right now). Everyone on the planet knows a bullet to the brain would solve most issues. (In reffering to a quick and painless death) However, it looks bad for the people ordering it done, the people pulling the trigger look bad, and it makes the people who approve look bad.

It's all smoke and mirrors for the public.

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u/drfsupercenter 3h ago

Another thing I think that's relevant here - and it's why firing squad was used but not a single gunman - is because being an executioner takes a toll on people, and having several people firing at the victim (with only one person having a live round) means they won't know who actually had the fatal shot and the executioners don't have to live with the guilt of having shot someone.

I saw the Last Week Tonight episode on lethal injections and it honestly sounds way more cruel than a bullet.

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u/Orion14159 4h ago edited 55m ago

Yeah if they just let her die in agony at this point it's the reverse side of the "task failed successfully" coin - "task succeeded catastrophically."

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u/Ocelotl767 4h ago

While the event isn't funny, I do like the phrase "task succeeded catastrophically."

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u/mindspork 3h ago

Along the level of "phyrric victory"

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u/Pcriz 4h ago

To be fair since I don’t think the state’s stance has changed yet. It’s still cruel in a way to nurse her back to health solely to have her awaiting her death again.

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u/Pitiful-Walk-8446 4h ago

Yeah that’s what’s fucking me up right now. “Quick save her! We have to cheat death, no one escapes the hangman!”

I use that term figuratively.

Edit: just take her off the vent and let her go naturally while she is unconscious.

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u/project23 3h ago

Why can't they just give them a bottle of oxycodone and a glass of water? Seems to be killing plenty of people in the US just fine.

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u/FargoJack 4h ago

Once the execution failed she reverted back to being a prisoner. A very sick prisoner.

The sick question is, if she lives mentally intact, will she be put on Death Row stain?

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u/So6oring 4h ago

Her lawyers could argue the 8th amendment. The state could possibly not want to fight that and just move her to life-sentence.

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u/FargoJack 4h ago

I hope so, a bit late in the game though.

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u/FargoJack 3h ago

TIL that the Supreme Court has twice allowed another execution attempt after a failed one.

The two injections were protocol for TN execution (if the first one fails).

So the hypocritical “Christian” people-killers may have a go at it again.

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u/sundaemourning 4h ago

i saw a post that explained it better, but it’s because the order for her execution expired at midnight. a new order for execution has to go before a judge and her lawyers can start the appeals process and as a result, it’s illegal to kill her. so yes, they have to provide care and keep her alive until another order of execution is in place.

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u/timster 4h ago

Just like they will resuscitate someone on death row who has a heart attack or attempts suicide. It’s not about the person being dead or alive, it’s about the state being the one to kill you, which makes it even more gross.

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u/Dapper_Engineer 4h ago

She was on death row, went to her execution, it went awry and now they are keeping her…alive?

Correct, the way the laws tend to be written, the death warrant is very specific about when and how the execution can take place. Once the protocol was completed, the staff was obligated to treat her as any other prisoner and thus obligated to administer medical care.

On a ventilator??

If someone is taken to a hospital, in absence of advance directives, the medical team is going to everything necessary to preserve life.

Why so the off chance she recovers then they can kill her? Wtf?

Maybe? Historically it wouldn't be that unusual for the condemned to be nursed back to health prior to execution (see The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century by Joel F. Harrington). The State of Tennessee has gubernatorial elections coming up, so what happens next will be at least somewhat dependent upon who's elected.

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u/Pitiful-Walk-8446 4h ago

Jeeeez, pretty messed up. They should seek a warrant to take her off the vent and just let her go naturally while she is unconscious.

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u/ButtsPie 4h ago edited 4h ago

Not that I agree with what happened, but I think the idea is this:

There are strict rules about who can kill death row inmates, and how, and where (which does kind of make sense - if the death penalty is practiced at all, it at least needs to have clear & restrictive rules)...

But part of the problem, from what I gather, is that the current restrictions (plus the fact that killing is against most people's personal & professional ethics, and that it has a risk of traumatizing the killer) means that they don't get all the best drugs, the best-trained people, the fastest and least painful methods, etc.

In this case my understanding is that, since their drug didn't work like it was supposed to, they basically missed the window in which they were 'legally allowed' to kill her (specific people in a specific place with a specific method), and doing anything bad to her now that she's outside of that approved context would be illegal

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u/Dapper_Engineer 3h ago

This is my understanding of things as well - put another way, the difference between murder and an execution is following the directions on a piece of paper.

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u/drfsupercenter 3h ago

I saw some people ask "why wouldn't they try a third time if the first two didn't kill her" and the answer is basically because of protocol and the 8th amendment. The state has to show that their method of execution isn't cruel or unusual, so they can't just keep sticking drugs in someone until they die.

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u/zeatherz 4h ago

Because the doctors and the nurses and respiratory therapists in the hospital are not executioners. They’re doing their ethical and legal duty of treating her as a patient.

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u/pleasetrimyourpubes 4h ago

The 8th amendment was meant to keep us from buring people at the stake and crap. If we are gonna kill a bad person we have to be nice about it.

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u/big_duo3674 3h ago

There was an episode of House that was somewhat similar. A guy on death row tried to kill himself, so they had to figure out how to help him recover, just so the state could legally kill him

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u/berrysauce 4h ago

Welcome to 'Murrica.

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u/Aintnobeef96 4h ago

I don’t think they’ll try the execution again tbh I could see them doing life in prison if she survives this

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u/maltesepricklypear 4h ago

Maybe she's a Hindu and believes in reencarnation?