Execution team members in Tennessee used about 10 needles while struggling to establish intravenous (IV) lines in death-row inmate Christa Pike’s arms before her failed execution on September 30, her lawyer has said in a new court filing.

The team also expressed concern that some of Pike’s veins might have ruptured, or “blown”, during the process, attorney Randy Spivey wrote in the document filed on Thursday. The team struggled to establish the lines and had difficulty pushing saline through the final IV site, according to his account.

Pike, 50, survived two doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital during the attempted execution. She was taken to hospital and placed on a ventilator for several days before regaining consciousness and eventually returning to prison.

The filing provides the most detailed account yet of the problems inside the execution chamber and has renewed questions about Tennessee’s lethal injection procedures.…