Christa Pike Execution Doctor Previously Botched Lethal Injection - Newsweek

A physician who was expected to oversee Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike on Wednesday was previously involved in another botched lethal injection effort that was halted after prison staff were unable to establish IV access.

Dr. Mark Fowler, a Tennessee physician who worked as a public defender before entering medicine, previously said that he would serve as the overseeing physician during Christa Pike's execution on September 30.

Fowler declined to comment to NBC News after the failed execution. Local outlet WVLT reported that he oversaw the procedure but it remains unclear what specific role he played.

Pike was administered two doses of pentobarbital after spending three decades on death row for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, which she committed at age 18.

But after the drugs were administered, witnesses described how Pike could still be seen breathing and heard loudly snoring before she was transported by ambulance to a hospital for treatment.

Fowler has previously been involved in a number of publicly reported executions in Tennessee, including the failed execution of Tony Carruthers in May 2026. Newsweek reached out to Fowler via email for comment outside of regular working hours but did not receive a response at time of publication.

Mark Fowler, also known as Mark Walton Fowler, is a doctor best known for his roles in state executions in Tennessee.

Fowler, 69, began his career as a public defender where he spent three years representing a number of capital punishment defendants. But by the mid-90s, he left to retrain as a doctor at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine.

Since graduating, Fowler has worked as an ER physician, family doctor and has been reported to hold several medical directorships, including a wound-care facility and clinics focused on weight loss and aesthetics.

According to The Guardian, Fowler became involved in executions after accompanying a friend who served as Tennessee's execution physician to an execution in 2018. He makes $3,000 for every execution he attends.

He also frequently writes articles for conservative media outlet The Patriot Post. In articles Fowler has argued that companies risk damaging their brands through LGBTQ+-related marketing campaigns, that Democrats are out of touch with mainstream voters and attacked the policies of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani.

While there is not a public record of every execution that Fowler has been involved with, he has been reported as the doctor in several high-profile cases in recent years.

In August 2025, Fowler’s identity was accidentally made public when a prison officer inadvertently disclosed it while announcing the death of Byron Black.

Black was executed for the 1988 triple murder of his girlfriend and her two daughters aged 6 and 9.

But the execution was described by his attorney Kelley Henry as “100 percent botched” and “torture” after pentobarbital was injected and Black reportedly cried out in pain and started to shout that “I can’t do this,” and “it hurts so bad,” while repeatedly lifting his head. He was pronounced dead roughly ten minutes later.

In May 2026, Fowler was again the doctor in the execution of Tony Carruthers, who was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994.

In Carruthers’ case, prison staff spent roughly 30 minutes trying unsuccessfully to establish IV access before Fowler was called and attempted to place a central line.

Carruthers' attorney challenged his qualifications in the chamber as Fowler responded “I am qualified.” In later litigation, it emerged that Fowler had testified he had not placed a central line since 2013 when he was working in emergency medicine.

The execution was halted after repeated unsuccessful attempts to obtain access, and Governor Bill Lee granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve.

Nearly two months later, Carruthers' sister filed a complaint with the Tennessee Department of Health accusing Fowler of medical malpractice and ethics violations.

Carruthers’ attorney recalled the moments after the execution attempt in a later witness declaration: “When I saw the process unraveling with my own eyes, it became clear that the overriding imperative was not competence or even the appearance of professionalism. It was completion.” She added that she witnessed her client was in “agony” during the process.

In the filed complaint, Carruthers' family alleged Fowler improperly attempted a central line despite not having performed the procedure in years and claimed Carruthers later suffered a stroke. No public disciplinary action against Fowler has been announced.

Fowler has repeatedly declined to publicly comment on Carruthers' case, but did say in a statement in August: "Inmates condemned to die are treated with utmost courtesy, respect and professionalism by staff."

Fowler also acknowledged being the physician during the execution of Anthony Darrell Hines in August 2026.

Hines was executed for the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jackson Jenkins after being on death row for 40 years.

Hines declined to offer last words, and four minutes after the curtain opened and the execution process began, he let out a loud, abrupt groan, took several breaths and, within several minutes, he was declared dead.

Fowler had previously said that he would be the overseeing physician during Christa Pike’s execution on September 30, though it is not yet clear how much involvement Fowler had during the execution.

Reports state that Pike had requested an all-female team during the execution, saying that being held down by a group of men would trigger her PTSD. The state did not confirm that there would be an all-female team during the execution.

Media witnesses described the process as "not typical.” Catherine Sweeney of WPLN reported that “they went through two rounds and she was still breathing at the end, it was very ragged,” adding: “She said that there was a spot that was burning and hurting and whether that was normal. None of it was normal.”

Media were escorted out of the execution room at 8:53 p.m. before Pike was transported to a hospital for medical care, though it is not clear what this care involves.

Lethal injections have the highest documented botch rate, according to a study by Austin Sarat examining U.S. executions from 1890 to 2010. This study found that 3.15 percent of all executions were botched, but the lethal injection botch rate was considerably higher at 7.2 percent.

That study defined a botched execution as one involving unexpected problems, significant delays, departures from protocol, unnecessary suffering, or serious executioner errors.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes and Cristina Diciu.