Tennessee health workers urge removing medics from executions after failed lethal injection

In May, health workers spent about an hour trying to establish IV access to execute Tony Carruthers at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, without success. 1 2 His attorney Maria DeLiberato, who was in the room, said he groaned in pain and blood oozed from puncture wounds; a contract physician, Mark Fowler, also failed to place a central line. 2 Gov. Bill Lee ordered the attempt halted and later granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve. 1

Fowler said in an October 2025 deposition that he had not done such a procedure in the 12 years since leaving emergency medicine; he told NPR that the doctor's only role is to declare death. 2 1 Two months later, more than 40 doctors and nurses wrote to Lee, arguing that rules requiring health-worker participation conflict with medical ethics and American Medical Association guidance, and asking for a pause and a redesigned protocol. 1 2 Nine Republican state lawmakers and defence attorneys also seek a moratorium; some senators called the administration "incompetent". 2 1

Lee rejected a pause, saying the Department of Correction "did exactly what they should". 1 2 Christa Pike's execution was set for Sept. 30. Her lawyers argued her platelet disorder made a central line likely and that Fowler was incompetent at it; a court-appointed investigator, Senior Judge Mark Ward, disagreed, the Tennessee Supreme Court denied a stay on Sept. 23, and Lee refused clemency on Sept. 28. 1 2 NPR's later version reports that a federal appeals court halted the execution about an hour before it was due. 2

A lawsuit by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and news outlets challenges the curtain that hides IV placement from media witnesses. 1