Medical experts shocked by Tennessee team’s ‘malpractice’ in Christa Pike’s failed execution

New details from legal proceedings have laid bare the chaotic events inside the death chamber during the failed execution of Christa Pike, a prisoner sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of a classmate.

Pike, who was 18 at the time of the crime, survived a normally fatal dose of pentobarbital after Tennessee’s execution team struggled for nearly an hour to set up an intravenous line.

Her lawyer, Randy Spivey, was present in the chamber and provided a blow-by-blow account of the technical failures that led to the botched procedure.

Technical failures and medical malpractice

The timeline of the failed execution, released in legal filings, describes a series of errors by the four unidentified members of the IV team as they attempted to find a vein in Pike’s arms.

The team used about 10 needles, repeatedly poking Pike’s arms and worrying that her veins might have “blown” before finally establishing a line.

Groner, who has written a book on the ethics of lethal injections, said the procedures fell far short of acceptable medical standards.

He noted that the label on a vial of pentobarbital instructs that infusion should cease immediately if the patient complains of pain.

Spivey’s account records multiple times in which Pike “grimaced” and said her arm was “really burning”.

Joel Zivot, a professor of anesthesiology and surgery, testified that the team used a 24-gauge catheter, which is too small for the purpose.

He added that there was “no way that you can push a 50cc syringe into that small little catheter without it blowing up the vein”.

Under Tennessee’s protocol, 50cc of pentobarbital were to be injected into each of Pike’s arms, giving a massive total dose of 5g of the sedative.

Procedural errors and aftermath

At 7:05pm, a team member asked for a 24-gauge needle and moved it around a lot, with Pike continuing to grimace.

At 7:07pm, another member said, “I think it is blown.”

Despite this, the team attempted to use ultrasound technology to find a vein, a technique that Groner said requires many hours of specialist training.

At 7:23pm, the team pushed saline through the line they had established “with difficulty.”

Despite this warning sign, the team concluded that the IV was set and that the procedure could commence just a minute later, at 7:24pm.

Pike spent several days on a ventilator and her lawyers initially assumed she was brain-dead.

After 10 days in hospital, she was returned to her prison cell and can now talk and walk, though her long-term prospects are not known.

State response and national reckoning

The gruesome nature of Pike’s experiences in the death chamber, which some have likened to torture, has prompted a reckoning on the death penalty nationwide.

Tennessee has called off all executions, pending a review of its lethal injection protocols.

He added that his takeaway was that the execution team pressed on when they should have stopped.

Groner said the execution highlighted that lethal injections were a “medical charade.”

“Pike didn’t deserve this. The ultimate penalty in our country, whether one agrees with it or not, is death. It is not torture, then death,” Groner said.