Christa Pike, a death row inmate in Tennessee who survived a failed lethal injection, remains in critical condition and on a ventilator, her lawyer has said.

Pike, 50, was taken to hospital after the September 30 execution attempt at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville failed to kill her. She received two doses of pentobarbital, the drug used by Tennessee for lethal injections, but remained alive and was subsequently placed on a ventilator.

Her attorney, Stephen Ferrell, said doctors were still treating Pike and attempting to clear the drug from her system. He said her prognosis remained uncertain and that it could take several days before doctors know the extent of her condition.

Pike’s lawyers have called on Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to commute her death sentence to life imprisonment. Ferrell argued that Pike had already spent more than three decades in prison and said the failed execution had caused serious physical consequences.

The circumstances surrounding the failed execution are now under investigation. Pike’s legal team has alleged that problems with the intravenous lines may have prevented the pentobarbital from entering her bloodstream properly. The Tennessee Department of Correction, however, has maintained that it carried out its responsibilities according to established protocol.

The fallout has already led to the resignation of Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada. Governor Lee said Strada would leave his position later this month, while an independent review examines what happened during the execution attempt.

Lee has also halted further executions in Tennessee for the remainder of 2026 pending the review. Pike was sentenced to death for her role in the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, when Pike was 18.