Christa Pike Remains on Ventilator After Botched Tennessee Execution Prompts Statewide Halt

Christa Pike, a Tennessee death row inmate who survived two doses of pentobarbital during a botched execution attempt Wednesday, remains unconscious and on a ventilator at a Nashville hospital, her attorney said, as a statewide review of capital punishment procedures gets underway.

Pike, sentenced to death in 1996 for the murder of her classmate Colleen Slemmer, received the lethal injection drugs at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. According to witnesses, she remained alive and snored loudly for 40 minutes after the drugs were administered. Eventually, paramedics were called and she was rushed to a hospital.

Pike's attorney Randy Spivey reported Thursday that she was in critical condition and receiving "life-saving care." He said he had warned the state ahead of time that a blood-clotting disorder called thrombocytosis "would cause her to suffer an agonizing death." "The state of Tennessee has shown once again that they are not capable of carrying out an execution consistent with basic human dignity," Spivey said. "Last night was not just inefficient, it was cruel and unusual."

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee immediately suspended all other executions in the state and called for a "comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred." Pike is the first person in modern U.S. history to survive lethal injection drugs, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. The doctor who administered the drugs was reportedly involved in the state's previous botched execution, raising further concerns about Tennessee's capital punishment protocols.

The failed execution has renewed debate about lethal injection, which has been the primary method of execution in nearly 90% of the 1,693 executions carried out in the U.S. over the past 50 years. Between 1982 and 2010, there were 75 botched injection executions, and more than 20 pharmaceutical companies have refused to allow their products to be used in executions, creating a scarcity of reliable drugs.

Reporting by Yahoo News. Read the original report: Christa Pike's botched execution fuels questions over lethal injection.