The physician present at Christa Pike's botched execution had served in the same capacity during a failed execution just months earlier, according to court reports.
Prior Failed Execution
On May 21, Tony Carruthers was scheduled to be executed, but 30 minutes into the procedure, the IV team had still not established the two peripheral IV sites needed for the lethal injection, according to a court-filed declaration from inmate's lawyer Maria DeLiberto of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
The declaration, a copy of which was obtained by PEOPLE, stated that Dr. Fowler was then called into the room to assist.
IV Attempts Unsuccessful
The TDOC Lethal Injection Execution Protocol outlines the roles and responsibilities of each team member and states that the physician is tasked with "determining if the inmate is deceased" and "establishing central line IV if necessary."
Dr. Fowler attempted to insert a central line in two locations, but neither was successful, according to the declaration. Officials eventually decided to call off Carruthers' execution. DeLiberto later said that by the time the execution was called off, her client was "clearly in pain" and "gutturally groaning," saying: "It hurts, it hurts."
Pike's Botched Execution
Despite the failed attempt in May, Dr. Fowler was asked to serve in the same capacity just four months later at Pike's botched execution. On September 30, Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital after Tennessee attempted to execute her for the 1995 murder of classmate Colleen Slemmer.
The lethal drugs failed to kill her, leaving her arms burned and blistered. According to 911 dispatch recordings, it took 31 minutes for prison officials to confirm that a request for emergency medical assistance was legitimate after confusion between prison staff and first responders delayed the response.
Following the botched execution, Pike spent days unconscious and breathing through a ventilator in intensive care. Doctors feared she was brain-dead. She defied the odds to wake up and started talking, and was discharged from a Nashville hospital on October 9.
Training Concerns
Attorneys representing Tennessee death-row inmates have filed a 2025 deposition from a prison warden who testified that execution teams did not practice inserting IV lines during training sessions. According to the court filing, the warden said the Tennessee Department of Correction commissioner directed that IV lines not be inserted during practices. The warden also testified that the team did not practice or prepare for emergencies, reports WSMV.
