Who is Dr. Mark Fowler? Doctor involved in Christa Pike's failed execution also tied to earlier botched lethal injection

Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike was taken to hospital after her lethal injection did not work, as per her lawyers. According to Gray News, the doctor who oversaw her execution was also part of another failed execution earlier this year.

Doctor Mark Fowler was involved in the attempted executions of Christa Pike. (AFP)Pike was sentenced to death in 1996 for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer and she is the only woman on Tennessee's death row.

As per Gray News, Mark Fowler is the doctor who oversaw Pike's execution. The report says he was also involved in the attempted execution of Tony Carruthers. The execution was called off in May after medical staff could not get an IV line into him. This took more than an hour.

According to the BBC, Carruthers was convicted of kidnapping and murdering three people in 1994, and his execution was postponed because staff could not find a vein.

According to Luke Ihnen, an assistant federal defender on Pike’s legal team, she was given two syringes of a lethal drug. The drug was pentobarbital. Her lawyers then filed an emergency motion asking the court to stop the execution.

According to the motion, Pike did not lose consciousness and still had a heartbeat. It also said she was audibly snoring. Her lawyers wrote: “Ms Pike has lost consciousness and still has a heartbeat and is audibly snoring.”

Dr Joel Zivot, a professor at Emory University School of Medicine and a medical expert hired by Pike’s legal team, said Pike likely did not have enough pentobarbital in her blood to stop her breathing and heart, as per BBC.

He said, “It's very possible that as a consequence of the delay of the beginning of resuscitation she will have a brain injury.”

Pike's lawyers said in a statement: "Tonight the State of Tennessee once again failed to carry out a lawful execution," they said. "We take no pleasure in being right, but the concerns raised by Ms. Pike proved to be true: difficult vein access, blown veins, degraded pentobarbital, no emergency medical care available when things inevitably go wrong, all under a protocol that remains veiled in secrecy."

Pike's team had argued in a three-day hearing in August that she had a vein condition, which would make it hard to find a vein, according to Gray News.

The Tennessee Department of Correction said it stood by its actions. Spokeswoman Dorinda Carter told the Tennessean newspaper the team had "followed every step of the state's lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General's Office".

She also said: “The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out this evening. Christa Pike has been transported to an off-site medical facility.”

Governor Bill Lee ordered "a comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred", as per US media reports cited by the BBC. He said the year's last remaining execution would not go ahead as planned.

Khushi Arora is a Content Producer at Hindustan Times, where she writes for the US Desk, covering everything happening in the United States, while maintaining quality and delivering impactful stories across all beats. She previously worked at Zee News for over a year where she explored multiple beats including News Desk, Education and Lifestyle. With a background in English Literature, Khushi blends sharp research with thoughtful storytelling, shaping stories that go beyond headlines and bring clarity and credibility to every piece she writes. Beyond the newsroom, she enjoys reading, watching cinema and loves having long conversations about books, films and everything in between.Read More