The doctor present at Christa Pike’s execution who was supposed to pronounce her dead has spoken about how things went wrong and insisted he is ‘not incompetent’.
Dr Mark Fowler’s role in Pike’s botched execution was to confirm that things had succeeded and she was actually dead, but he recounted that after around 45 minutes had gone by he knew something hadn’t gone to plan.
In his experience most executions only take around 10 minutes, and he was summoned to speak with the warden who informed him that Pike, 50, was not dead.
The doctor thought they should ‘give it a few more minutes’, around half an hour later he thought she might be left in ‘a permanent vegetative state’ and diagnosed her as comatose, with the order then given to stop the execution.
He told Intelligencer that he then called for an oxygen tank and an ambulance, which is how a woman due to be executed ended up in hospital and is now able to speak.
Pike survived her execution (YouTube/Inside Edition)
Pike, who received the death sentence for murdering classmate Colleen Slemmer in 1995 and has since been discharged and returned to prison, has said she woke up in hospital ‘confused and in pain’.
She said: “There hasn’t been a moment since that night when I haven’t been in pain. My body hurts. My arms hurt. My hands hurt. My throat hurts.
“I still struggle to speak. And the pain isn’t just physical. There is pain in my mind and in my soul.
“I had not contemplated life beyond that night, and I’m deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position. I continue to think about my victim’s family and the terrible pain and loss they have endured.”
She had survived two doses of pentobarbital, and Dr Fowler says the lethal injection IV she was connected to was ‘delivering medicine to the subcutaneous tissue’ in her arms rather than into her bloodstream.
Christa Pike survived her execution, but still faces the death penalty (LADbible/Tennessee Department of Correction/WBIR-TV)
Dr Fowler was previously involved in the execution of Tony Carruthers, which was also botched, but has insisted he’s not bad at his job.
It’s up to others to attach the IV line, he’s there to pronounce people dead, but he supports the death penalty and is one of the few doctors who will participate in executions and doesn’t believe it violates his oath to ‘do no harm’.
He said: “I’m not an evil, vicious person. I’m not unscrupulous. I’m not uncaring, and I’m not incompetent.”
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