News that Christa Pike, the woman who was due to be executed in Tennessee, had survived her lethal injection will have caused alarm among the many people who are considering a visit to Switzerland to bring their lives to a peaceful end.
Not enough is yet known to establish clearly how such a disaster could have happened. Initial reports indicate that the doctor failed to hit a vein or that the effectiveness of the fatal drug might have deteriorated in storage.
The fatal dose is understood to have been a barbiturate. In Switzerland all the VAD (voluntary assisted dying) centres use pentobarbital of sodium which is, indeed, also a barbiturate. Whether the execution used the same barbiturate is not yet known. In Switzerland last year there were almost 700 VADs carried out for non-Swiss citizens (and many more for Swiss people themselves) and there were no reports of any such problems. It seems virtually certain that there would have been a public outcry if any of the Swiss operations had gone so wrong.
Further, there have been reports that Christa Pike variously remained conscious, was snoring or even that she was calling out in pain. These reports cannot all be true and we suspect that they may have been manufactured. The attempted execution clearly failed but the most probable form of failure would naturally be for her simply to fall deeply asleep and then to wake up again several hours later. If it didn’t happen like that then there really is a need for a proper enquiry.
Pentobarbital of sodium is a very well-known anaesthetic. Swiss doctors use laser guidance technology to make sure the needle does not miss a vein. The medication must always be used fresh from the independent pharmacy, where storage methods are legally controlled.
We expect to receive more information within the next three weeks and will enter another news bulletin at that time.
