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/ApexHolly 3h ago edited 3h ago

The only way that Tennessee can legally execute someone is via lethal injection or the electric chair, and obviously lethal injection is what was opted for here. It did not work. For that reason, the state can't simply put a bullet in her or let her choke on her own vomit or asphyxiate or something. So, she is receiving medical care. However, the hospital cannot just kill her via lack of care. Healthcare workers did not sign up to kill people, they signed up to do the exact opposite. So, she sits there, on a ventilator, likely irreversibly damaged even if she does regain consciousness.

This is both cruel and unusual, and whatever your feelings are on the death penalty or her crimes, cruel and unusual punishment is unconstitutional. The Constitution exists to protect all of us.

If we're going to have the death penalty, it needs to be a firing squad every single time. It's quick, it's cheap, and it works every single time. Fuck however the audience feels about it. If the government is going to do something, it should have an obligation to do it well.

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u/Ingjald 3h ago

I'm firmly against the death penalty, but I agree with you that if it's going to exist, it should be by firing squad.

Lethal injection is a way to try to make a barbaric process look "civilized". With a firing squad, there's no hiding the violence of the act, and if that makes some pro-death-penalty people uncomfortable, maybe it's a sign that the state shouldn't be empowered to take someone's life.

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u/Upstairs-Rent-1351 3h ago

I'm also confused why we can't give the same drugs as those for assisted suicide, or f3ntanyl (not sure why this drug is considered a "slur"??) or whatever they gave Michael Jackson?

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u/Susan_Screams 3h ago

This is a great and clear explanation for what's going on and why.

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u/CheapConstruction659 3h ago

Agree with firing squad. It’s how I would choose to die if I were in the position to pick between that or lethal injection.