'My body hurts': US death row inmate Christa Pike speaks of agony after surviving lethal injection

Christa Pike, a convicted murderer, is currently suffering immense pain a month after surviving a botched lethal injection in Tennessee. She stated in a statement released by her lawyers that her body hurts all over - her arms, hands, and throat. Pike, 50, was administered two doses of pentobarbital at a state prison on September 30, an injection that should have been fatal.

However, she miraculously survived the attempt and was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. She was subsequently returned to prison following medical treatment. Pike is the only inmate in US history to have survived a lethal injection, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. She was convicted of killing 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer along with her boyfriend in a brutal attack when she was just 18 years old.

Despite the excruciating pain, Pike is in the process of recovering, although she acknowledges that healing is not the same as feeling okay. She has repeatedly called for Governor Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life in prison. Lee has suspended executions in Tennessee pending an independent investigation. In the US, there have been 32 lethal injections this year, all carried out via the lethal injection method.

The death penalty is currently banned in 23 of the 50 US states, while three others - California, Oregon and Pennsylvania - have put a moratorium on executions.