Christa Pike Conscious and Speaking After Execution Attempt

Christa Pike is conscious and speaking while receiving critical medical care at a hospital, her attorneys said Tuesday, six days after Tennessee officials attempted to execute her by lethal injection. They said she has severe injuries to her arms, remains handcuffed and shackled to her hospital bed, and faces an unclear prognosis and a potentially long recovery. Pike survived after prison staff administered two doses of pentobarbital during the September 30 execution attempt at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, according to the reports. She has been hospitalized since the attempt. Her attorneys described her recovery as medically unprecedented, but the available accounts include no statement from her treating medical team or medical records confirming her condition. The October 6 update marked a change from information her lawyers had shared earlier in the week. An attorney said Sunday that Pike was critically ill and on a ventilator, and that her prognosis was not yet known. The latest update said she was conscious and speaking, but offered no further medical details.