The physician involved in Christa Pike's botched lethal injection in Tennessee had also been called in during Tony Carruthers' failed execution four months earlier, court reports show.
Failed Attempt in May
On May 21, Tony Carruthers was scheduled for execution, but half an hour into proceedings the IV team had yet to successfully establish the two peripheral IV sites required to administer the lethal injection to the prisoner, as detailed in a court-filed declaration from the prisoner's solicitor Maria DeLiberto of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
That declaration, obtained by PEOPLE, indicated Dr Fowler was subsequently summoned to the room for assistance. The TDOC Lethal Injection Execution Protocol explicitly defines each team member's duties, specifying that the physician must "determining if the inmate is deceased" and "establishing central line IV if necessary." Dr Fowler made two attempts to insert a central line at different sites, but both proved unsuccessful, the declaration states.
Authorities ultimately decided to abandon Carruthers' execution. DeLiberto subsequently reported that by the time proceedings were halted, her client was "clearly in pain" and "gutturally groaning," saying: "It hurts, it hurts."
Botched Execution in September
Despite Carruthers' failed execution attempt in May, Dr Fowler was enlisted to perform the same role just four months later at Pike's bungled execution. On September 30, Pike, 50, endured two administrations of pentobarbital after the US state of Tennessee tried to execute her for the savage 1995 killing of classmate Colleen Slemmer.
The fatal drug failed to end her life, instead causing severe burns and blistering to her arms. Emergency dispatch recordings reveal it took 31 minutes for prison authorities to verify that a call for urgent medical help was genuine after miscommunication between jail staff and emergency responders hampered the reaction.
After the failed execution attempt, Pike remained in a coma for several days, requiring ventilator support in intensive care. Medical professionals suspected she had suffered brain death. However, in an astonishing turn of events that stunned healthcare workers, she miraculously regained consciousness and began speaking, before being released from a Nashville hospital on October 9.
Warden's Deposition
This follows legal representatives for Tennessee death-row prisoners submitting a 2025 deposition from a prison warden who gave evidence that execution squads did not rehearse inserting IV lines during preparation exercises. The court documents state the warden revealed the Tennessee Department of Correction commissioner instructed that IV lines should not be inserted during rehearsals. The warden further gave evidence that the squad did not rehearse or make contingency plans for emergencies, according to WSMV.
