Christa Pike, a death row inmate in Tennessee , survived an attempted execution after two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital failed to kill her. The botched execution has left her with severely ‘swollen, burned and blistered’ arms and questions remain over whether improperly placed IV lines prevented the drug from entering her bloodstream.
Pike was reportedly administered two doses of pentobarbital during the attempted execution on September 30. Despite receiving what were described as lethal doses, she survived, in what the Death Penalty Information Center described as the first known instance of an inmate surviving after being injected with lethal doses of execution drugs.
5. She was still handcuffed to a hospital bed
A court filing said both of Pike’s arms were severely swollen, burned and blistered when she arrived at the hospital, according to AFP. Pentobarbital is described in the filing as a caustic substance capable of burning skin, tissue and veins if it does not properly enter the bloodstream.
