The lone woman on Tennessee’s death row was still alive after she was administered two lethal injections, her lawyer said in a motion seeking to halt her execution Wednesday night, a stunning development after the Supreme Court had stepped in to allow the state to put her to death.
At 8:26 p.m. local time, witnesses said “executioners had injected both syringes of lethal injection chemicals” and Christa Pike was “still alive and snoring,” her lawyers said in a federal court filing.
They said Pike “has not lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat” and that curtains to the death chamber “have gone down twice.”
The angle of execution being a harm is pretty obvious, but on the other hand they could reduce suffering (a harm) by by helping ensure it’s done right. But I guess the oath doesn’t compel them to reduce harm, just not add to it.
In the US, any medical professional participating in an execution loses their credentials. That’s the bare minimum consequence but even Americans sometimes do something slightly right on occasion.
Literally a punchline to a joke