After failed execution, health workers say Tennessee's method flouts medical ethics

The Riverbend Maximum Security Institution is seen Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. George Walker IV/AP hide caption

This story describes the lethal injection procedure used in a death penalty.

In May, a group of healthcare workers spent about an hour trying to establish complete IV access so they could inject Tony Carruthers, an inmate at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, with a lethal dose of sedative.

Maria DeLiberato, an attorney for Carruthers, was in the room. She said the workers stuck his arms and feet with needles, to no avail. A doctor then tried to insert a central line through his collarbone and shoulder. That didn't work, either.

This story was produced in partnership with KFF Health News .

Carruthers groaned in pain and blood oozed from puncture wounds, DeLiberato said in a news briefing.

After more than an hour, Gov. Bill Lee called the warden, ordering him to halt the execution attempt. He later granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve.

Now, as another death row inmate's execution approaches, doctors and nurses in the state say they want medical professionals removed from the execution process. They've also joined defense attorneys and nine Republican state lawmakers in demanding a moratorium on the death penalty and an overhaul of the state's execution methods.