02.11.2026 13:00
Mark Fowler, the doctor on duty at the execution of Christa Pike, who survived despite 2 doses of lethal injection in the September 30 execution in the US state of Tennessee, spoke for the first time. Responding to criticism, Fowler explained that the needles were administered under the skin instead of into a vein, and that he feared Pike would enter a permanent vegetative state. Despite this, Fowler wanted Pike to be executed again. Fowler said, "I am not a bad, cruel person. I am not unprincipled, I am not careless, and I am not incompetent."
New details have emerged about the failed execution of Christa Pike, who was expected to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. The doctor on duty at the execution described what happened in a statement to Intelligencer.
SHE KILLED HER CLASSMATE IN 1995
Christa Pike, the only woman on death row in Tennessee, killed her 19-year-old classmate Colleen Slemmer in Knoxville on January 12, 1995, in the Job Corps program where she was receiving training. Pike, then 18, committed the murder together with her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp and Shadolla Peterson. Pike surrendered two days later and was sentenced to death in 1996 for “first-degree murder.”
After Governor Bill Lee rejected the clemency request and the U.S. Supreme Court declined the appeals, the execution date for 50-year-old Pike was set for September 30.
SHE SURVIVED DESPITE 2 DOSES OF LETHAL INJECTION
In the execution carried out at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, Pike was given 2 doses of pentobarbital. However, Pike did not die despite 2 full doses. Because state protocol did not allow a third dose, the execution was stopped and Pike was taken to the hospital in serious condition.
According to the petition Pike’s lawyer Randy Spivey submitted to the court, the execution team struggled for about 1 hour to find a usable vein and used nearly 10 needles. The petition stated that Pike described her arm feeling as if it were going to burst and said she felt severe burning and pain.
THE NEWS CAME THAT “SHE DID NOT DIE”
Mark Fowler, the 69-year-old doctor whose duty at the execution was to confirm Pike’s death, said he realized after about 45 minutes that things were not going as planned. Fowler noted that most executions take about 10 minutes. Fowler, relaying that the prison warden told him “She did not die,” said he first suggested allowing a little more time for the drug to take effect.
Fowler, stating that after about half an hour he thought Pike was facing the risk of permanent brain damage, diagnosed Pike as being in a coma. An order was then given to stop the execution. After Fowler requested an oxygen tank and an ambulance, Pike was taken to the hospital.
THE DRUG WENT UNDER THE SKIN, NOT INTO THE VEIN
The examination determined that the IV lines had not been inserted correctly and that the lethal doses were administered into the subcutaneous tissue in Pike’s arms instead of her bloodstream. Reminding that Pike complained of pain in her arm during the procedure, Fowler said, “They should have stopped and reassessed, but they did not.”
“I AM NOT A BAD PERSON”
Responding to criticism, Fowler used the statements, “I am not a bad, cruel person. I am not unprincipled, I am not careless, and I am not incompetent.” Fowler also said he was worried that Pike would be left “in a permanent vegetative state with a quarter-million-dollar treatment cost.”
Fowler, likening inserting an IV line to riding a bike, noted that he himself also sometimes inserted IV lines in complex cases.
HE HAD ALSO STOPPED THE CARRUTHERS EXECUTION HIMSELF
Fowler had also taken part in the failed execution of Tony Carruthers in May. He said he himself stopped the execution, which had been halted because a backup IV line could not be inserted, because he thought there was not enough anesthesia. Fowler described Carruthers’s reactions during the procedure as “a bit of theater.” These remarks drew criticism.
“PIKE SHOULD BE EXECUTED AGAIN”
Fowler, acknowledging that the death penalty was “probably” not applied fairly, nevertheless wanted Pike to be executed again. Fowler argued that this would give Slemmer’s mother, who was present at the September 30 execution, “a sense of justice.”
Fowler also stated that despite the criticism he would not withdraw from his role in executions. Arguing that Tennessee needs to change its protocol, Fowler recommended using the old 3-drug method containing potassium chloride instead of pentobarbital. According to Fowler, the people who insert the IV line should also remain in the room to observe the effect of the drug.
PIKE: THERE HAS NOT BEEN A MOMENT SINCE THAT NIGHT WHEN I HAVE NOT BEEN IN PAIN
Pike, who remained on a ventilator in the hospital for a while, was discharged on October 10 and sent back to prison. In her first statement after the incident, Pike described being in constant pain and said, “There has not been a moment since that night when I have not been in pain. My body aches. My arms ache. My hands ache. My throat aches. I still have difficulty speaking. And the pain is not only physical.”
Pike, noting that she is largely kept separate from other inmates in prison, used the statements, “I spent 28 years in solitary confinement, and much of what I am experiencing today is a repeat of that situation.” Pike reacted to the execution team, saying, “The incompetence that put so many people in this terrible situation has deeply wounded me.”
EXECUTIONS HALTED IN TENNESSEE
After the failed execution, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended all executions in the state until the end of 2026. The commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correction also resigned. Pike’s death sentence, however, remains in effect.