Pike's lawyers say Tennessee ignored medical warnings before botched execution

Christa Pike, a Tennessee woman sentenced to death for a murder committed when she was a teenager, remains alive after the state's botched attempt to execute her by lethal injection, her lawyers said on Thursday (1 October).

Questions over Pike's medical condition had featured prominently in the legal arguments surrounding Tennessee's plan to execute her by lethal injection, according to WBIR, an NBC-affiliated television station broadcasting from Knoxville, Tennessee.

Pike's lawyers and medical experts had raised concerns about her diagnosis of essential thrombocytosis, a condition that causes an abnormally high level of platelets in the blood.

In a report, Dr Gail A Van Norman said the condition can, in some cases, cause inflammation in the small blood vessels, potentially making intravenous access more difficult.

"Christa's legal team told the state of Tennessee and the court that her medical conditions would cause her to suffer an agonising death," said Randy Spivey, one of Pike's attorneys. "The state and the court dismissed Christa's concerns."

John Greer, a retired haematology and oncology physician, said difficulties in establishing intravenous (IV) access can be a significant problem during lethal injections.

"The problems are venous access, and that can be difficult and sometimes impossible. 

"Some of these drugs probably lead to excessive fluids in the lungs, and that can lead to some difficulty breathing."

Pike was given two doses of pentobarbital during her Wednesday (30 September) execution attempt but remained alive.

Spivey said the execution team spent about an hour trying to establish an IV line. "I counted at least seven needles used in her left arm alone, one of which appeared to be bent when it was pulled from her arm."

About 7% of lethal injections in the US are botched, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Greer said it is never totally surprising that there are issues. "This is not a safe, controlled situation."

Christa Pike was critically ill and receiving "life-saving medical care" in a Nashville hospital on Thursday hours after she survived two attempts by Tennessee to ​execute her with lethal injections, her lawyers said, according to Reuters. 

Pike, 50, was sentenced to death in the 1990s after being convicted ‌of a murder she carried out as a teenager. 

Her botched execution on Wednesday at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, the second this year in Tennessee, highlights the difficulties US states face in carrying out lethal injections and finding suitable alternative methods of capital punishment.

"Christa is alive right now," Spivey told reporters on Thursday afternoon. 

"We don't have a sense of her prognosis or much update on her health ​at the moment, but we do know that she is alive right now."