Another botched execution in Tennessee. What about botched assisted deaths.

Alex Schadenberg

Executive Director

Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

On September 29 I wrote about a group of medical professionals who sent a letter to Tennessee Governor Bill Lee stating that heathcare professionals should never assist with executions. The medical professionals were responding to the botched lethal injection execution of Tony Carruthers on May 21, 2026 in Tennessee.

On the evening of Wednesday, September 30, Tennessee had it's second consecutive botched lethal injection execution in the case of Christa Pike.

A report from WBIR news stated that:

Pike's attorneys say she was given two doses of the lethal injection drug but she remained alive, though her condition is still unknown.

They filed an emergency motion at 8:26 p.m. CDT on Wednesday alleging the prolonged execution was causing Pike unnecessary physical and mental suffering and violated her constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

"Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution," Pike's attorneys said. "We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy. Christa is being treated at a nearby hospital. We have not been informed as to her condition."

WBIR reported that the Tennessee Department of Correction issued the following statement at on September 30th at 7 pm:

"The Tennessee Department of Correction followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office. The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening. Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility."

The letter by the medical professionals concerning the botched execution of Tony Carruthers stated:

The horrifyingly botched attempt to execute Tony Carruthers on May 21 confirmed that TDOC is not presently able to conduct an execution that complies with the law, its own protocol, or basic human decency.

The concerns around capital punishment are not limited to lethal injection. The New York Times published a news article  by Rick Rojas and Abbie Van Sickle reporting in June 2026 that the US Supreme Court appears to have decided that capital punishment by Nitrogen gas is inhumane. The article stated:

The Supreme Court’s decision was unsigned and included no reasoning, which is typical in such emergency rulings. Dissent came from three of the court’s conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch.The Supreme Court decision blocked the nitrogen gas execution of Jeffery Lee (49) who will remain on death row in Alabama.

If the use of nitrogen gas, for capital punishment, is inhumane, then botched capital punishment by lethal injection is also inhumane.

The concerns associated with lethal injection executions are the same concerns associated with lethal poison assisted suicide deaths.

In Oregon, where assisted suicide has been legal for more than 25 years, the longest time from ingestion to death in the 2025 assisted suicide report was 123 hours (more than 5 days). 

Deaths that take 123 hours are not peaceful or dignified deaths. 

But 123 hours to die by lethal poison is not an outlier. In 2023 the longest time of death was 137 hours (almost 6 days).

There may be many more assisted suicide deaths that took several days to be completed but the Oregon assisted suicide data only indicates the longest time of death. 

Clearly assisted suicide deaths can be inhumane.

The issues concerning assisted suicide also extend to euthanasia, which involves similar lethal injection drugs.

The story about the euthanasia (MAiD) death of Brigitte Stegemann (83) who lived near Belleville Ontario presented similar concerns. The Daily Mail reported:

Once back inside the home, the nurse started the IV, Kranendonk alleges. ...

The nurse struggled to insert the IV into Stegemann's right arm, and ended up piercing her repeatedly with the needle before attempting her left arm.

Kranendonk remembers in graphic detail the copious amount of blood, which made the whole procedure feel strangely unprofessional.

'She's asking us to hand her things, to flush out the needle. So we're now a part of this. She's asking us to grab things for her, and to hold things for her.

'This nurse is not wearing gloves. There's blood all over her hands, there's blood all over the place,' she says, horrified by the memory.

The problem begins with the concept that it is acceptable to kill people.

If death by capital punishment can be cruel and unusual punishment then killing people by lethal poison for assisted suicide or euthanasia is also cruel, inhumane and dehumanizing.

The killing needs to end.