Anesthesiologist who advised Christa Pike’s defense speaks out against lethal injection
Anesthesiologist Dr. Joel Zivot joins Bill Hemmer to examine the legal consequences of Christa Pike’s botched execution after a judge ordered Tennessee officials to preserve evidence from the attempt. Zivot, who advised Pike’s attorneys, discusses the complications involving the lethal-injection drugs used by the state. Pike remains on death row after surviving the failed execution.
Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike has left the hospital and returned to prison after surviving a botched lethal injection that caused serious medical complications, her attorneys said.
Pike survived two doses of the execution drug pentobarbital on Sept. 30. She is now back at the Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, where she has been held for more than 30 years, according to a joint statement from her legal team.
“Christa Pike was discharged from a local hospital and is now at Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center where she has been housed for more than 30 years,” the statement said. “She is grateful to the first responders and her medical team for their care in these extraordinary circumstances. She is continuing to receive medical care at the prison, and we will continue to track her recovery.”
Christa Gail Pike appears remotely from Deborah K. Johnson Rehabilitation for her hearing in Knox County Criminal Court in Knoxville, Tenn., on Aug. 11, 2026. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
The statement came from attorneys Stephen Ferrell and Luke Ihnen of Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, along with Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason of the Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender.
The lawyers did not say when Pike was released from the hospital or whether she has recovered from the complications they previously identified, including pneumonia, a blood clot and injuries to her arms.
Ferrell told BBC Radio 4 on Thursday that Pike had started walking around her hospital room but was still dealing with arm injuries and memory problems.
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Emergency vehicles arrive at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Tenn., on Sept. 30, 2026. Pike had not been declared dead when witnesses were asked to leave the room they were in. (Denny Simmons/The Tennessean/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
“What’s been described to me is that physically there’s quite a bit going on, that her arms are very injured and she’s not able to use them very much,” Ferrell said. “She is up and walking for the first time today, but just around the room, not very far.”
Pike’s condition began to improve after her attorneys said they believed she was brain dead Monday evening, only for her to unexpectedly regain consciousness the next morning.
Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 torture and murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville.
Christa Gail Pike is seen during her trial for the murder of Colleen A. Slemmer March 18, 1996, in Knox County Criminal Court. (USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
The failed execution has also triggered legal proceedings. A Tennessee judge ordered the state Department of Correction to preserve physical and electronic evidence connected to the execution attempt.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has suspended executions for the rest of 2026. It is still uncertain whether, or when, the state will attempt to carry out Pike’s death sentence.
