Tony Carruthers suffered brain stroke, partial paralysis from botched execution attempt, sister says in complaint

What This Story Is About

• Tony Carruthers sister has filed a complaint with the Tennessee Department of Health alleging that “malpractice” and “torture” during her brother’s failed execution in May.

Why It Matters

• His sister, Dr. Tonya Hervey, said her brother’s entire right side of his body is paralyzed after suffering “excruciating pain” during the failed execution.

What Happens Next

• The TDOH Health Facilities Commission Complaint Intake Unit will review the complaint, assign it a priority code and then pass it off to a regional office for investigation.

For Context

• Gov. Bill Lee decided not to change any of the state’s execution protocols after the failed lethal injection, prompting criticism from some activists.
• Various legal teams and anti-death penalty groups are continuing to call for the state to pause its scheduled executions.

Catch Up

• Tony Carruthers’ attorneys responded last week to Gov. Lee saying execution protocols will stand after the botched attempt.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Two months after the state botched an attempt to execute Tony Carruthers, his sister is revealing that she believes the failed procedure caused a brain stroke that has left the inmate partially paralyzed.

His sister, Dr. Tonya Hervey, revealed the alleged complications in a complaint submitted Wednesday to the Tennessee Department of Health (TDOH).

In the suit, she accuses Dr. Mark Walton Fowler with the Tennessee Department of Corrections of malpractice and torture. She also reveals new details describing the botched execution, describing her brother bleeding and audibly groaning in pain.

“He was stabbed wide open in his chest while awake and could feel the excruciating pain during the entire procedure!” she wrote.

WSMV4 has reached out to TDOC for comment.

Tony Carruthers left paralyzed on ‘entire right side of body,’ sister says

Hervey says the botched execution left her brother permanently maimed.

She believes that her brother suffered a brain stroke, leaving him with “paralysis of the entire right side of his body.” She also notes that he “endured extreme pain.”

“He can no longer utilize his right hand and is dragging the entire right leg to move,” she wrote. “He struggles with balance to walk upright; his personality and cognitive functions have decreased significantly.”

Sister says Carruthers was ‘in visible agony and distress,’ describes failed execution as ‘torture’

About 40 minutes into the attempted execution, Hervey alleges in the complaint, Dr. Fowler entered the room and the procedure took a turn for the worst.

He instructed TDOC personnel to take off her brothers’ socks “to search for veins in his feet.” Hervey wrote that a medical team member who claimed to be qualified to access jugular access stepped in, using a vein finder to assess the inmate’s jugular vein.

That person informed Dr. Fowler that “jugular access was not advisable,” the complaint says.

“Dr. Fowler then announced that he was going to set a central line despite THE TEAM MEMBER’S ADVICE [sic],” the complaint says. “He had previously admitted in a deposition that he had not set a central line in well over a decade and had no hospital privileges to do so.”

When Carruthers’ attorney objected, “Dr. Fowler snapped back at the lawyer that he was qualified to see the line,” Hervey wrote.

Then, according to the inmate’s sister, the doctor asked if Carruthers had a lidocaine allergy. No one in the room responded, but Dr. Fowler continued on, the complaint alleges.

When five minutes passed, Fowler tested to see if the lidocaine had numbed the injection site, but Carruthers responded that he still had sensation in the area.

Minutes passed.

Eventually, Dr. Fowler gave up, admitting he couldn’t set a central line, Carruthers‘ sister wrote. But he didn’t give up.

Next, the doctor moved on to her brother’s shoulder.

“He claimed to have achieved venous access in the shoulder; however, blood was visibly filling the line,” she wrote.

According to Hervey, that was the moment Gov. Bill Lee’s office officially called off the execution.

It had gone on for 90 minutes.

Specific allegations against TDOC doctor

She alleges that Fowler “violated his medical ethics in multiple ways, including but not limited to:”

• participating in the execution at all, which is against the hypocratic [sic] oath
• injecting lidocaine into someone without determining if there was an allergy
• attempting to set a central line when not qualified to do so
• beginning a central line despite knowing Mr. Carruthers was not properly anesthetized
• overseeing and continuing to authorize a search for venous access over nearly an hour while was in visible agony and distress

What happens next?

According to the TDOH website, once the department receives a complaint, it is reviewed by the Health Facilities Commission, Complaint Intake Unit staff.

Those people will “assign it a priority code according to the severity of the alleged violation,” and then it will be sent over to a regional office for investigation.

“All complaints received are taken seriously and a thorough and fair evaluation under the law is conducted,” TDOH says.

The person who filed a complaint will receive a letter from the regional office once a decision is made.

The TDOH website says that “the specific content of such letters varies depending upon the circumstances of the complaint. However, they are generally one of the following types.

1. Sufficient evidence did not exist to warrant the Commission to impose deficiency citations or penalties, but the facility has been investigated and has been informed of the concerns that lead to the complaint. The complainant’s name is confidential and not released to the facility.
2. There was sufficient evidence to warrant the Commission to impose deficiencies and/or penalties."

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.