After Failed Execution, Health Workers Say State’s Rules Flout Medical Ethics
The death penalty is legal in 27 states, and lethal injection is the primary method. That means involving medical professionals to store, test, and inject the drugs. After a botched execution in Tennessee, doctors and nurses there say medical professionals need to be removed from the process completely.
This report details the concerns raised by healthcare workers in Tennessee regarding the state's execution protocol, which they claim violates medical ethics. On May 20th, a group of medical professionals spent an hour attempting to establish intravenous access to administer a lethal injection to Tony Carruthers, an inmate at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.
Despite multiple unsuccessful attempts, including attempts to insert a central line, Carruthers experienced severe pain and blood loss. Governor Bill Lee ordered the execution to be halted after over an hour and later granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve.
The incident has led to calls from doctors, nurses, defense attorneys, and nine Republican state lawmakers for a moratorium on executions and a revision of the state's execution methods. This stance aligns with the American Medical Association's position on the matter, which states that doctors should preserve life when possible and bars participation in executions. The Tennessee Medical Association code of ethics echoes these sentiments.
Tennessee, like 27 other states, allows the death penalty. However, in four of these states, all executions have been halted due to moral and logistical concerns, including difficulties in obtaining lethal injection drugs. Lethal injection remains the primary execution method, but some states have also used gas, firing squads, or electrocution.
Since the start of 2020, 170 people have been executed in 17 states, with most taking place in Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma. Sixteen of these executions have been botched, characterized by unanticipated problems causing more pain than anticipated.
The Tennessee Health Workers' Concerns letter, signed by over 40 medical professionals, argues that the state's requirement for healthcare workers to participate in executions contradicts medical ethics and guidelines set by organizations such as the American Medical Association. The letter emphasizes that healthcare professionals who agree to take part in Tennessee's executions are willingly setting aside their professional ethics.
John Greer, a retired Nashville hematologist, further emphasized the risks associated with certain procedures, such as central line placement, which require specialized training and experience.
Republican state senators have joined the call for a halt on executions and an overhaul of the process, citing "incompetent administration" as a factor that fuels criticism of capital punishment. However, Governor Lee maintains that the Department of Correction executed the procedure correctly and is committed to ensuring it is carried out appropriately.
A lawsuit filed by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and various news outlets challenges the state's policy of keeping media witnesses in the dark during IV placement, arguing that it obscures potential issues, such as those encountered in Carruthers' case.
Written by urgent.news from KFF Health News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
