Pike survived Tennessee execution attempt after two doses

Christa Pike survived Tennessee’s September 30 execution attempt after receiving two doses of pentobarbital, and her attorney has filed a detailed account alleging repeated problems establishing intravenous lines before the drugs were administered. Randy Spivey wrote that the execution team used about 10 needles and tried several sites on both arms. The team also struggled to push saline through the final site, according to the filing. The reports describe Pike’s subsequent hospitalization, several days on a ventilator, recovery of consciousness and return to prison after discharge. The detailed chronology comes from Spivey’s court filing and has not been independently corroborated in the reporting. He said the team began trying to place the two IVs required by Tennessee protocol at 6:34 p.m. Pike suggested looking in her upper arm for a vein, he wrote. The team placed a line in her right arm within about six minutes, but took nearly an hour to establish one in her left arm. Spivey’s account says Pike winced as team members moved needles in her left arm. At 6:57 p.m., one member reportedly raised the possibility that a vein was “blowing,” while two others said they could not...