First words by Christa Pike revealed following failed execution

Her lawyer said it was a ‘shock to everyone’

According to her lawyer, Randy Spivey, Pike’s first words were: “Where am I?” and “Who are you?”.

In a “shock to everyone”, Spivey said she began to talk on Tuesday, while recalling only limited details about the failed execution.

The 50-year-old was given a death sentence for the murder of Colleen Slemmer.

At the time of murder, Pike was 18 years old, and she and her then-boyfriend, Tadaryl Shipp, beat, tortured and killed Slemmer, who was 19.

Pike survived two lethal injections in Tennessee on 30 September.

An explanation for what went wrong after injecting her with the chemical pentobarbital has also not been given.

Meanwhile, authorities have not yet confirmed whether there will be another attempt to execute Pike.

Credit: Tennessee Department of Corrections

No other US inmate survived a lethal injection before

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has ordered a pause on all executions in the state for the rest of the year, adding that he wants answers about what went wrong.

Meanwhile, the state's prisons chief said he is resigning after the failed execution.

According to experts and her legal team, her apparent recovery is unprecedented while no other US inmate has survived a lethal injection.

On Wednesday, a court ordered the state of Tennessee to preserve all evidence related to the failed execution.

At the news conference on Wednesday following a court hearing, Pike’s lawyers said that she continues to receive critical medical care and is being restrained at her hands and feet in her hospital bed.

Her lawyer said that her legal team believed for days that she was brain dead.

He also said they expected her to be taken off life support at any moment.

Spivey added that Pike had helped the execution team find a vein in her arm, and she was kind and polite while she was being injected.

Both of her arms are now “tremendously swollen”, he added, and she woke up in a hospital with a tube down her throat and people she didn't know.

The lawyer noted how she was left “angry and confused” by the ordeal, adding that “we don't know the toll all of this will take” on her mental health.

Vials with Sodium pentobarbital used for euthanasia and lethal inyecion in a hospital, conceptual image. Credit: Adobe Stock

What is pentobarbital - the drug that didn’t work in the Christa Pike execution

Pike, 50, is believed to be the only person to survive an execution attempt by lethal injection.

Following two rounds of the drug pentobarbital she was then taken to hospital.

There she remained unconscious for days, as medical staff cleared her body of the injected chemical.

Pike's attorneys reported she was still breathing after receiving two doses of pentobarbital and experiencing “unnecessary agony.”

They said the prolonged nature of the execution attempt caused Pike “superadded physical and mental suffering.”

Pentobarbital is a sedative that typically treats seizures by calming overactive nerves in the body, according to Cleveland Clinic.

It's administered as an injection into a muscle or vein in a hospital or clinic setting.

The drug's common brand name is Nembutal. The drug is a short-acting barbiturate, meaning a central nervous system depressant.

Nembutal, a powerful barbiturate used as a sedative or in lethal injections. Credit: Adobe Stock

It is historically used for insomnia and as a pre-anesthetic before surgery, in addition to emergency anticonvulsant use, according to the American Addiction Centers' Laguna Treatment Center.

At low doses, the drug helps to initiate sleep. At higher doses, it can treat issues with anxiety due to its hypnotic effect.

It's a Schedule II controlled substance, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

The drug affects a person's brain, respiratory system, cardiovascular system, consciousness and motor functioning.

Overdoses can be fatal due to the drug's ability to shut down areas of the brain that control breathing and heart rate, according to the Laguna Treatment Center.

Individuals can fall into a coma and die, while pentobarbital overdose survivors may develop severe brain damage.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, pentobarbital is a commonly used drug for legal execution.