THE LATEST! Darrell Hines, another Tennessee prisoner facing execution, has successfully gone to court for an order that he is entitled to learn whether the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) intends to use the same physician who participated in the state’s failed execution attempt of Tony Carruthers in May during Hines’ scheduled Aug. 13 execution. The Davis Vanguard July 19th post reads in part: "A Tennessee court has ruled that death row prisoner Darrell Hines is entitled to learn whether the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) intends to use the same physician who participated in the state’s failed execution attempt of Tony Carruthers in May during Hines’ scheduled Aug. 13 execution. The court, however, stayed its order while a higher court considers the issue. Following a hearing Thursday, Davidson County Chancery Court granted Hines’ motion to compel TDOC to disclose whether it plans to use Dr. Mark Fowler, the physician involved in Carruthers’ May 21 execution attempt, according to a statement released Friday by Hines’ legal team. The motion argued that Fowler’s inability to establish intravenous access during Carruthers’ execution attempt created a substantial risk that Hines could suffer a similar outcome if the same physician is assigned to his execution. According to the filing, Fowler spent more than an hour unsuccessfully attempting to establish IV access before Carruthers’ execution was halted."
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STORY: Complaint accuses doctor involved in failed Tennessee execution of violating ethics," by Associated Press Reporter Travis Loller, published on July 19, 2026.
GIST: "The sister of a Tennessee death row inmate whose execution was halted because of problems inserting an IV has filed a complaint against the doctor who was involved.
The complaint filed Wednesday with the Tennessee Department of Health by Tonya Hervey says Tony Carruthers suffered excruciating pain during the May 21 attempt to administer a lethal injection and the family believes he now has partial paralysis that they attribute to a stroke.
It does not specifically say how or when they believe the stroke occurred, and Hervey declined an interview request.
During the attempted execution, the IV team established a primary line right away but then worked for more than an hour trying to insert a backup line.
Maria DeLiberato, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney representing Carruthers, witnessed the attempts and said the team tried to insert an IV in Carruthers’ arm, hand and foot before Dr. Mark Fowler attempted to insert a central line.
In the end Gov. Bill Lee called off the execution and gave Carruthers a one-year reprieve.
The complaint accuses Fowler of violating medical ethics by participating in an execution; by injecting Carruthers with the anesthetic lidocaine without first establishing that he was not allergic to it; and by continuing the search for a vein despite his “visible agony and distress.”
The complaint also says he was unqualified to place a central line because he had not done so in over a decade.
Fowler declined to comment on the complaint when reached by telephone.
Dr. Ervin Yen, a retired cardiac anesthesiologist who has witnessed many executions in Oklahoma and was not involved in the Carruthers case, said the fact that Fowler had not placed a central line in years is not necessarily disqualifying. He also said it is very unlikely that the attempts to place an IV could have resulted in a stroke.
The Tennessee Department of Correction declined to comment on the allegations. The Health Department said information on all complaints and investigations is confidential until formal charges are filed, including whether an investigation exists.
Carruthers, 58, was found guilty of the 1994 kidnapping and murder of Marcellos Anderson; Anderson’s mother, Delois Anderson; and Frederick Tucker. Authorities said Marcellos Anderson was a drug dealer and Carruthers was trying to take over the illegal trade in their Memphis neighborhood.
Carruthers has maintained his innocence. He was forced to represent himself at trial after repeatedly complaining about court-appointed attorneys and threatening to harm several of them.""
The entire story can be read at:
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog. FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."Lawyer Radha Natarajan: Executive Director: New England Innocence Project; FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true;
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