Christa Pike, who survived a failed execution attempt in Tennessee last week, is conscious and speaking while receiving hospital treatment, her lawyers said.
“Against all odds, Christa Pike is conscious, speaking, and continues to receive critical medical care,” her lawyers said in a statement.
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“Despite the severe damage she endured to her arms, she is still handcuffed and shackled to the bed.
“Her recovery is medically unprecedented. Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery.”
The statement offered the first sign that Pike’s condition had improved since an ambulance transported her from a Nashville prison last Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Correction said Tuesday that she could disclose no details beyond confirming that Pike remained hospitalized.
Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital during Tennessee officials’ attempt to carry out her execution.
She was sentenced to death for the 1995 killing of her classmate, Colleen Slemmer.
Dr Joel Zivot, an Atlanta professor of anaesthesiology and surgery who advised Pike’s legal team as an expert, said the improvement “bodes well for a good recovery”.
Even so, he said, it could take weeks or months to determine the full extent of her recovery — including whether she might regain enough competency for the state to make another execution attempt.
“She’s still in the ICU,” he said. “She has recovered to a certain degree that she’s able to be off a ventilator and able to speak, but in no way would I announce her free of further serious risk.
“There’s still a lot of bad things that can happen here, even when everyone is doing their job well.”
Pike’s lawyers are due in court tomorrow as they press for more information about the lethal injection attempt that failed.
They want a judge to order the Tennessee Department of Correction to preserve evidence from the 30 September execution attempt, including drug lot numbers, records and other relevant information.
The botched execution at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution — Tennessee’s second failed attempt this year — has underscored the challenges US states face in administering lethal injections and developing workable alternatives for carrying out capital punishment.
