Tennessee Physicians Ask Gov. Bill Lee to Pause Executions After Botched Attempt

Doctors shouldn't serve as executioners, Tennessee physicians say

Yet another group is calling for a death penalty moratorium after the failed execution of Tony Carruthers in May. This time, it’s doctors and nurses. They want the state to find a way to carry out capital punishment without medical professionals. Under Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol, the Department of Correction brings on a doctor for execution day. The role is meant to be passive: to make sure the person is deceased and to call the time …

Tennessee physicians ask Gov. Bill Lee to pause executions after botched attempt

A duo of Tennessee doctors is asking Gov. Bill Lee to stop future executions until the state can make drastic improvements to its death penalty protocol, following what critics call the "botched" execution attempt of Tony Carruthers.

Article of Interest: Former Tennessee Execution Official Calls on Governor to Pause Executions in Consideration of the Trauma that the “Chaotic” Process Inflicts on Staff

Prompted by the recent botched exe­cu­tion attempt of Tony Carruthers, a for­mer Tennessee exe­cu­tion offi­cial is plead­ing with Governor Bill Lee to pause exe­cu­tions in the state. In his detailed account, Ian Congleton described how his par­tic­i­pa­tion in exe­cu­tions left him with last­ing post-trau­mat­ic stress dis­or­der, anx­i­ety, and depres­sion. In his op-ed in *The Tennessean*, he ascribed his trau­ma to ​“the chaos sur­round­ing…