Murderer Christa Pike has said her first words in hospital after she was given two lethal injections which failed to kill her. Pike, 50, was taken to hospital and put on a ventilator after she survived two doses of the lethal injection on Wednesday. She is now awake and speaking, with her representative saying she is able to communicate in a 'basic way' but has no memory of the execution. This includes giving her name and making incorrect guesses about the date.
Condition and recovery outlook
Pike reportedly remains handcuffed to her bed, and it is not known whether Tennessee officials will try to execute her again. Hospital staff are trying to remove the deadly drug from Pike's body, a process which they expect to take a week.
Dr Joel Zivot, a professor of anesthesiology, said the development 'bodes well for a good recovery.' But, he added, it could be weeks or months before anyone knows exactly what her recovery might look like, and whether her competency could be restored to a level that might enable the state to try again to execute her.
Medical concerns and execution details
'She's still in the ICU,' he said. 'She has recovered to a certain degree that she's able to be off a ventilator and able to speak, but in no way would I announce her free of further serious risk. There's still a lot of bad things that can happen here, even when everyone is doing their job well.'
Before the dose was administered at around 7.27pm, Pike was strapped to a gurney and is reported as saying, 'I'm going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life and that is in love'. She then remained awake and at one point asked if her arm was supposed to feel that way.
Background and next steps
At 8.26pm, execution witnesses reported a second dose of pentobarbital had been administered. Pike was then heard snoring before the microphone was cut off at 8.53pm.
Pike was handed the death sentence after murdering her 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer in 1995. It remains unclear whether Tennessee officials will attempt another execution.
