Christa Pike is the only person to ever survive two lethal injections as expert explains how it could happen
Christa Pike was taken to hospital and is receiving life-saving care after surviving two lethal injections.
Pike's execution took place yesterday, September 30, although not as scheduled. An appeals court stopped the lethal injection just an hour before it was to start, although it was overturned just an hour later.
After three decades on death row, Pike prepared for the end of her life, although she became the only person ever to survive two lethal injections.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of her 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer, and would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years, if her execution had been successful.
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It's not uncommon for lethal injections to not go as planned, and there are a number of inmates who have had their executions moved to another date. For example, in May 2026 Tony Carruthers was supposed to die by lethal injection but the medical team couldn’t establish an intravenous line. They will try again in May 2027.
Elsewhere, Thomas Creech's execution team tried to find a vein eight times to set an IV line to administer lethal injection drugs and failed.
However, Pike's lawyers said she had been administered two doses of this drug, when journalists in the journalists inside the execution chamber claimed she was 'alive and snoring.'
It was revealed Pike was given two doses pentobarbital.
Explaining what this is, Jonathan Groner MD, Emeritus Professor of Clinical Surgery at Ohio State University College of Medicine told UNILAD: "It is a short acting barbiturate. It is used to treat seizures and can be used for 'medically induced coma' for patients with severe head trauma."
How did Pike survive two lethal injections?
Well, Dr Ramskill tells Metro she doesn't believe 'anybody can responsibly give a definitive explanation for Christa Pike’s survival.'
Although some may assume it was Pike who had a resistance to the drug, the expert states that the 'entire process' needs to be investigated.
The doctor questions whether the IV 'line is not functioning correctly,' explaining that some medications 'can enter the tissues surrounding the vein rather than reaching the circulation as intended.'
Dr Ramskill also said the drug may have been incorrectly stored, or the speed is administered.
The doctor also explained how metabolization of the drug could have been a factor although, it's way too early to say that Pike's body ' metabolised the drug unusually quickly,' especially without an investigation.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has now ordered an investigation to see what happened during Pike's injection.
At the time of writing, she is still being treated in hospital.
“We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy," Pike's attorneys said after the botched attempts.
Kiesha Dosanjh