Christa Pike was supposed to be dead by Wednesday night. Instead, the 50-year-old remains hospitalized in critical condition after Tennessee's attempt to execute her by lethal injection failed, her attorneys said on Thursday, per NBC News. Lawyer Randall Spivey, who witnessed the effort, said he counted at least seven needles put into Pike's left arm, including one he described as bent when it was drawn out of Pike's arm, and noted that her right arm turned purple after a second round of pentobarbital. Her legal team says there was "blistering and burning around the sites of the injection," while media witnesses reported Pike saying her arm felt like it was "about to burst" and observed her moving and making sounds minutes after the drugs were administered.
Medical experts say that the injuries suggest the drug may have leaked into tissue rather than entering a vein due to leaks or a bad insertion, potentially blocking a fatal dose and raising new questions about Tennessee's execution protocol. An anesthesiologist tells WVLT that dehydration could've made a viable vein hard to find, or that Pike may have had "bad veins to begin with," possibly from substance abuse. The outlet notes that Pike had said during past appeals that she had a vein condition that made her nervous about a lethal-injection death. Her lawyers have said she has a blood disorder and small veins, per the Washington Post.
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