# Tennessee Fails to Execute the Execution of Christa Pike. Twice **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 1, 2026, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507 "2026-10-01T08:24:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/41 "2026-10-01T16:19:29Z")
fix misplaced reply ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/42 "2026-10-01T16:24:18Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > Always fun to get into a pissing contest. I mean, you started the credential challenge, so what were you expecting? If you disdain it, there’s an easy solution, don’t start it. But you did start it, so you’re going to take the ride. > [@scudsucker](#): > > Are you stating that simply training the prison officers to do the IV is not a valid solution to the problem that medical experts are unwilling to do the ethically dubious IV insert? Are you suggesting that it is? Do you think Christa Pike would agree that the problem is well solved? Presumably the BoC got some textbook form of the instruction, and obviously it wasn’t enough. I’m not sure if you’re suggesting it would’ve been solved by having a doctor do the training, but it wouldn’t. Only experience can fill in the gaps. > [@scudsucker](#): > > Because, inserting the IV is not a hard problem, as no doubt you have seen in your own career. For the third and final time, learning the textbook easy case is about 1% of the problem. Yes I’m sure this looked very easy when you were practicing on your buddies in the garage or on cows who couldn’t complain or file a malpractice suit, but it’s a little different when you have to meet a certain human standard care for any person with any variation of anatomy that walks in the door. You don’t know enough to know what you don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/43 "2026-10-01T16:27:53Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > No-some people need to kill, and other people elect them because they also need to kill…but are so cowardly that they can only do it by proxy. Or, y’know, because the state holds the monopoly on violence and frowns on vigilantism (justifiably so, and fortunately so). I mean, come on, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/44 "2026-10-01T16:41:43Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > It’s not a weird belief. It’s Constitutional Law and torturing them to death is certainly worse than at least trying for painlessly as possible. I’m against the death penalty too but come on. Right: but this is confusing “pain-free” with “cruelty-free.” I’m not in favour of either pain or cruelty, and certainly not adding to either, but clearly the method used here was unacceptable. Since we don’t seem to be able to manage a solution that fits both law and self-image (“we are not barbaric!”), best admit that, as TN seems to have grudgingly, temporarily done. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/45 "2026-10-01T16:53:38Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Right: but this is confusing “pain-free” with “cruelty-free.” I’m not in favour of either pain or cruelty, and certainly not adding to either, but clearly the method used here was unacceptable. > > Since we don’t seem to be able to manage a solution that fits both law and self-image (“we are not barbaric!”), best admit that, as TN seems to have grudgingly, temporarily done. There is the awkward situation where political concerns result in the anti death-penalty faction opposing low-suffering methods of execution because it also tends to reduce the spectacle. They rely on the lurid spectacle to illustrate the barbarity, under the sadly misguided delusion that the death-penalty supporting public can be shocked into changing positions. The straightforward solution would be a captive bolt to the back of the head, at the brainstem. More instant than instant, more painless than painless. A gurney or chair could be devised to conceal the mechanism. But this wouldn’t satisfy anybody. The pros would find it too shocking to maintain the façade of civility, and the antis wouldn’t find it shocking enough to be politically useful to their cause. So we’re stuck in this weird liminal space of methods that look civilized on paper but often end up being torture sessions. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/46 "2026-10-01T16:58:21Z")
False choice between “You kill them” and “we kill them”. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/47 "2026-10-01T17:44:15Z")
Okay then, if it’s a false choice, or (as I maintain) a non-choice, maybe you shouldn’t have framed it as a coward’s choice. If you want to call someone a coward, just do that. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/48 "2026-10-01T17:45:40Z")
CNN’s bold 2ndary headline for the story is: “_After being injected with two doses of pentobarbital, Pike was still alive, snoring loudly_” Yes, THAT’S the newsworthy takeaway: that she was unconscious and ungraceful in her slumber. I wonder if she farted loudly as well, as sleepers sometimes do. By all means, let’s focus on the bodily functions of an unconscious prisoner (and not the fact that she was still having them, despite the state’s efforts!) and not the state-sponsored murder of a woman who committed a crime 31 years ago as a teenager. Not sure the SCOTUS’ actions regarding her appeal were entirely proper, either. But since they seem to be the last word on all things law these days, whatareyagonnado? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/49 "2026-10-01T18:42:27Z")
Moderating: I think the discussion on “how hard is it to run an IV” has reached its course. Clearly, the state was unable to do it, for whatever reason. Please, everyone, discuss other aspects of this story. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/50 "2026-10-01T19:06:48Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > Hitting a vein is really not that hard. I agree. But I wonder if the situation changes things. It’s not routine. In this case, it’s hitting a vein so they OD and die. **Nerves** It’s like, shooting at a target 10 feet out is not hard to hit. But if the target is now a living person looking at you, feels like that changes things. I don’t know if this affects anything or not, but it would for me. I’d be nervous. **Veins** Finally, there’s also a difference between my “healthy” vein, and say, my sister’s thin worn out one that requires surgeon/specialist to stick (_but only after the nurses swear they know what they are doing, try, and try, and try, and then flag it up the chain…every time_). Not sure of the condition of this woman’s vein. Late: _Missed the Mod note. Not sure what to do but you can remove if it’s no longer helpful._ ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/51 "2026-10-01T20:06:29Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Missing the vein on purpose would mean that she wouldn’t die, not that she’d die more slowly and painfully. This was very clearly incompetence. There is no other reasonable explanation. I must have been very unclear when I tried to discuss this. Yes. “Missing the vein on purpose would mean that she wouldn’t die, not that she’d die more slowly and painfully.” Exactly the thrust of the speculation—that the injecting person deliberately missed so as to NOT kill her. I don’t think I ever said anything about “d(ying) more slowly and painfully” ETA - I started this thread talking about how the execution was failed twice. But it really was only 2 different vials of drug during one attempt. I repeated what I had read somewhere early on. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/52 "2026-10-01T20:24:20Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > Jail them for life and the victim will not be insulted. Although in general _I have grave doubts about the Death Penalty_, those in prison for Life can still kill- gang leaders order executions, fellow prisoners are shanked, guards are killed, escapes happen, and mistakes release the wrong prisoner. This case had a particularly heinous murder- senseless and added torture. But I would not try to execute her again, despite the seriousness of her crimes. Enough is enough. I am not even sure that if I was on her jury, I would agree to the Death Penalty. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/53 "2026-10-01T20:57:21Z")
Apparently, she’s in critical condition (from a NY Times update): > A lawyer for the death row inmate Christa Pike said she was in critical condition and receiving lifesaving medical care on Thursday, a day after Tennessee’s failed attempt to execute her. Ms. Pike survived two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital in what was the state’s second bungled execution this year. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/54 "2026-10-01T21:07:04Z")
Am I the only one kinda barking a dry laugh when I read that she is “receiving lifesaving medical care”? Looks like something out of a “Catch-22” type novel… ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/55 "2026-10-01T21:17:06Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > Am I the only one kinda barking a dry laugh when I read that she is “receiving lifesaving medical care”? Just goes to show how barbaric the death sentence really is. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/56 "2026-10-01T21:23:26Z")
Scratch that. It is not out of “Catch-22”. It is out of Kafka. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/57 "2026-10-01T21:33:00Z")
Right down to his darkest stories, like “In The Penal Colony”… ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/58 "2026-10-01T21:34:23Z")
And literally out of the USA, a land where evolution was stopped in its tracks. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/59 "2026-10-01T21:49:42Z")
What happens if the person fights and thrashes around? Even if they try to restrain the person’s arm, the person would still be able to twitch and move enough to make getting the needle into a vein a big challenge. With how hard it is to get a vein into a compliant patient, it seems like it wouldn’t take too much effort for the person to make that task much harder or impossible. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507/60 "2026-10-01T22:21:58Z")
If she suffered brain damage due to this botched attempt, it is likely she can be found “incompetent to stand execution” ([Ford v Wainwright](https://hat.capdefnet.org/helpful-cases/incompetence-be-executed)) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennessee-fails-to-execute-the-execution-of-christa-pike-twice/1033507.md?page=4)