Around 40 doctors and other medical professionals called on Gov. Bill Lee to pause death penalty executions until the state improves the process.
The group, which sent Lee a three-page letter and held a news conference Tuesday, isn’t calling for the end of executions but wants lawmakers to find a way that they can be performed without doctors and nurses.
John Greer, a retired doctor, said it’s against the Hippocratic Oath, an ethics pledge medical professionals take, to perform executions.
“It’s a paradox,” Greer said. “But doctors should not be participating in legally authorized executions.”
The recent botched execution of Tony Carruthers spurred the group.
Tennessee was set to execute Carruthers in May, but the doctor hired by the Department of Corrections could not find a vein in which to insert the lethal injection. After trying unsuccessfully for an hour, Lee issued a one-year reprieve for Carruthers. Attorneys for Carruthers called the failed process “torture.”
Carruthers was convicted in a 1992 triple kidnapping and murder but has maintained his innocence for the past three decades.
In 2022, Lee paused all executions in Tennessee. He launched a third-party review of the lethal injection process after concerns were raised over the procurement of the drugs and whether the state was using expired doses.
The state resumed lethal injections in 2025, executing three people before Carruthers.
Following the botched execution of Carruthers, a group of state Republican senators urged Lee to create an independent commission to review any problems and make corrections before the state attempts any other lethal injections.
“The effort dragged on for well over an hour before the execution was called off. This was a failure of the State of Tennessee to carry a lawful sentence of its own courts,” the letter to Lee said.
A spokesperson for Lee did not respond to questions sent by the Lookout.
Greer said one of the problems with Tennessee’s execution process is a lack of training and transparency.
“There’s too much secrecy,” he said. “We want it to be revealed and reviewed.”
Tennessee has executions scheduled for Anthony Darrell Hines on Aug. 13 and Christina Pike on Sept. 30. Pike would be the first woman ever executed by the state of Tennessee.
Originally published on tennesseelookout.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
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