Christa Pike's failed lethal injection attempt: What is pentobarbital and why did Biden ban it?

Christa Gail Pike survived on Wednesday after being given two doses of lethal drug, pentobarbital, according to her lawyers.Pike, 50, was alive and loudly snoring after the attempted lethal injection and taken by ambulance from the prison, her attorneys said. She was being treated at a hospital, but they said they hadn't been told about her condition.She had been scheduled for execution at 10 a.m. Wednesday for the killing she committed at age 18 and would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. A death penalty expert said it was an unprecedented failure, and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee halted the remaining execution for the rest of the year.Officials gave Pike two doses of pentobarbital, her attorneys said in court filings late Wednesday. The Biden administration had previously removed pentobarbital from the federal protocol for single-drug lethal injections over concerns about the potential for unnecessary pain and suffering.Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement that he has ordered "a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred" and that the remaining scheduled execution will not take place this year."Carrying out a lawfully imposed sentence is among the State's most serious responsibilities, and the people of Tennessee expect it to be done in a manner that is not only legal and constitutional, but is effective," he said.The Tennessee Department of Correction said in a statement that they "followed every step of the State's lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General's Office."Media witnesses recount the moments before the execution of Christa Pike was halted (AP)The state's execution protocol calls for a secondary set of drug syringes to be administered "if the inmate is not deceased" after the first set. It does not spell out what happens if the subject is alive after the second set.Robin M. Maher, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said what Pike experienced is "singular and unparalleled."Seven other people have survived medical problems due to an execution team's failure to access a vein to administer lethal injection drugs, but no one has stayed alive after receiving the drugs used in such executions, she said.Media witnesses detail the execution processMedia witnesses observing from a separate room said officials raised curtains to the execution chamber at 7:27 p.m., showing Pike strapped to a gurney.Christa Pike’s ‘last words’"I'm going to leave this world the way I spent most of my life and that is in love," she said in her "last" words. She described herself as at peace.But Pike remained awake and at one point raised her head and asked prison officials if her arm was supposed to feel that way. It was not clear what she was referencing.By 8:26 p.m., execution witnesses reported that the second dose of pentobarbital had been administered. Pike continued to be heard snoring behind the closed curtain until the microphone was cut off at 8:53 p.m. At that time there was an announcement to escort media witnesses out of the area.Christa Pike is escorted from Knox County Criminal Court in Knoxville, Tennessee (Knoxville News-Sentinel)Lawyers for Pike filed an emergency motion late Wednesday to the Tennessee Supreme Court seeking to immediately halt and stay the execution, saying she was in "unnecessary agony" and it was violating her right to be executed free of cruel and unusual punishment. They also filed motions in the Sixth Circuit court and a district court.It was the second time this year that Tennessee has been unable to carry out an execution: In May state officials called off the lethal injection of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and killing three people in 1994, after executioners tried and failed for over an hour to place an IV to administer pentobarbital.Pentobarbital, a barbiturate that slows activity of the brain and nervous system, is often used by doctors to treat seizures and convulsions. In an execution, pentobarbital can be used in combination with other drugs or by itself. So far this year, 14 inmates have been executed by single-drug doses of pentobarbital — seven in Texas, six in Missouri and one in Georgia.Pentobarbital is known in America under its brand name Nembutal.This photo provided by the U.S. Department of Justice shows a vial of pentobarbital used in the executions of two inmates in July 2020, according to court filings. (Department of Justice via AP, File)Despite the limited availability of pentobarbital it has been used in many cases of euthanasia or assisted suicide across the world.It belongs to the class of drugs known as barbiturates. Invented in the late 19th century, these act to depress various aspects of brain function. Barbiturates have been used for many purposes, including to treat sleep disorders, epilepsy and traumatic brain injury.In high doses, these drugs can cause suppression of breathing and death. Because of the risks associated with overdoses, they have been withdrawn from routine medical use over the last 20 years.History of pentobarbitalStates use a variety of drugs and drug combinations in lethal injections. Two of the most common are midazolam and pentobarbital.Attorney General Merrick Garland in the final days of the Biden administration withdrew the pentobarbital lethal injection policy after a government review of scientific and medical research found there remains “significant uncertainty” about whether its use causes unnecessary pain and suffering.”The Justice Department this year reauthorised the use of single-drug lethal injections with pentobarbital that were used to carry out 13 executions during the first Trump administration — more than under any president in modern history. A lethal injection chamber in TexasA Trump administration report claimed the Biden administration ‘got the standard and the science wrong’.. The Biden administration’s findings, among other things, “failed to address the overwhelming evidence” that an injected with pentobarbital quickly “quickly loses consciousness—rendering him unable to experience pain,” the report said.“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement at the time. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims.”Since capital punishment was reinstated in the 1970s, more than 1,600 prisoners have been executed in the United States, the vast majority by state authorities.