From the left, Rob Quinn and John Greer, both doctors, are part of a group of about 40 medical professionals called for a pause to Tennessee’s executions on Tuesday July 28, 2026 in Nashville Tenn. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Yesterday, Tennessee medical professionals held a press conference in Nashville, urging Governor Lee to pause executions so the State can review and make meaningful changes to its problematic lethal injection protocol. Medical professionals are the latest in a chorus of voices, including Republican lawmakers, faith leaders, and a former Tennessee Correctional officer, asking Governor Lee to intervene.

“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.”  WPLN Reporter Catherine Sweeney.

A letter signed by nearly 50 Tennessee medical professionals was also sent to the governor’s office. The letter says in part: “The horrifyingly botched attempt to execute Tony Carruthers on May 21 confirmed that TDOC is not presently able to conduct an execution that complies with the law, its own protocol, or basic human decency.”

The letter from the Medical Professionals can be found here.

Among concerns raised at the press conference is the training and experience needed by a physician in order to establish a central line. This procedure is required by the state’s exe­cu­tion pro­to­col if a back-up line cannot be established. The participating physician in the botched, near execution of Tony Carruthers admitted in a deposition that he had not placed a central line in over a decade. He then failed in his attempt to establish one for Mr. Carruthers, and the execution was finally stopped after 90 minutes.

An additional concern raised by the doctors is the participation of a physician in an execution at all. Such participation requires physicians to set aside their ethical obligations, contradicting their Hippocratic Oath and American Medical Association directives.

Today attorneys for Darrell Hines asked Governor Lee either to grant Mr. Hines a reprieve or commute his death sentence ahead of his August 13 execution date. His attorneys note that the TDOC failed to follow its own protocol in the failed execution of Tony Carruthers and that Mr. Hines’s debilitated medical condition following a series of strokes makes it even more likely that the execution team will struggle to obtain IV access and will have to insert another central line.

TAKE ACTION: Ask Governor Lee to grant Mr. Hines a reprieve so the State can review and address the problems with Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol before another person is executed.

If you have already signed the letter, share it with five other people and ask them to sign on!

We at TADP regularly highlight the ripple effects of executions on everyone they touch, including the families of the victims and the executed, attorneys, media witnesses, and correction officers tasked with carrying them out.

Recently when asked by reporters whether the State should stop the upcoming execution of Darrell Hines on August 13 to review Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol, given the botched, near execution of Tony Carruthers in May, Governor Lee replied that he believes “everything about the protocol of the death penalty was carried out appropriately.”

Governor Lee’s remarks are not only dismissive of the horror inflicted on Tony Carruthers, but also of the trauma that this ordeal inflicted on participating Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) staff.

In an op-ed published in The Tennessean, Ian Congleton, a former TDOC officer, writes about his experience as a member of the execution team, the impact of that experience on his life, and why he is asking Governor Lee to stop executions to address the problems with this protocol.

A transcript of the op-ed is below. Please share widely.

I worked Tennessee executions. The trauma nearly killed me

A former Tennessee correctional officer says working executions left him with PTSD and urges Gov. Bill Lee to pause executions until TDOC can reliably follow its own protocols.

Ian Congleton, July 22, 2026

In my early 20s, I spent two years as a correctional officer with the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC), working at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. I was there when Tennessee started executions again in 2018, and I worked on several executions. That experience nearly cost me my life.

In the years since, I have tried not to think about that period. But when I saw the news about TDOC’s botched attempt to execute Tony Carruthers in May, I felt compelled to share my experience. That is why I sent a letter to Gov. Bill Lee asking him to protect correctional staff from the trauma I suffered by pausing executions, at least until TDOC demonstrates it can carry them out in compliance with its protocol.

I never expected to be part of Riverbend’s execution team

When I joined TDOC in 2017, Tennessee had not executed anyone for several years, and the possibility of working on an execution was not on my mind. I completed TDOC’s training and went to work at Riverbend. I worked in many different areas of the prison, including death row.

When Tennessee resumed executions in 2018, I did not volunteer for the execution team, but the warden assigned me to it. I worked on several executions, beginning with Billy Ray Irick and ending with Stephen Michael West. Some were by electrocution, and some were by lethal injection. I had several different roles for these executions, including escorting witnesses and strapping down the prisoner. I also personally witnessed several of the executions from various points where I was assigned to stand.

The trauma followed me long after each execution

Everything I did and saw working on executions took a serious toll on me. I never felt that I could speak up about what I was feeling, because there was a culture at Riverbend to keep quiet and “man up.” I was never offered counseling after an execution.

After Mr. West’s execution in 2019, I had a mental health crisis. I was so tormented by thoughts about the executions that I decided to take my own life. Fortunately, the last bit of hope in my mind told me to call my mom. She checked me into an inpatient mental health clinic, where I spent a week, and then I spent another four weeks in intensive outpatient care.

I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression. I still take medications for these conditions today, and I still experience flashbacks, nightmares and other symptoms of the lasting trauma I suffered working on executions in Tennessee.

Looking back, I believe a lot of the trauma I absorbed came from the chaos surrounding how executions were handled and the feeling that, unless TDOC changed its approach, things would inevitably go wrong.

The execution process often felt chaotic

Over the two years when I worked on multiple executions, I only recall having one run-through of the protocol, where we practiced both a lethal injection execution and an electric chair execution. The protocol changed after that run-through, but I don’t remember having any training on how to follow the revised protocol or doing another run-through. Also, every execution day was chaotic, with people out of position and jobs being shuffled around. In one execution, I was in the middle of strapping the prisoner down when I was told to go man the sally port instead.

From what I read in the news about Tony Carruthers’s failed execution, nothing has changed except there is a new protocol that staff probably haven’t been fully trained on. I worry about all the folks at TDOC who were traumatized by that day, and I have no doubt that unless something changes dramatically in Tennessee, the next execution and those that follow it will continue harming correctional staff.

Gov. Lee should consider the human cost to correctional officers

I no longer live in Tennessee, and I no longer work in corrections, but I will always carry the emotional scars of what I went through helping Tennessee execute prisoners. I wish someone had told the governor back in 2018 what those executions would do to the people like me who worked for TDOC.

I am telling Governor Lee now, and I pray he will listen.

Ian Congleton worked for the Tennessee Department of Correction from 2017 to 2019. At that time, his legal last name was Anderson.

Photo from The Tennessean

Late Monday afternoon, the Tennessee Lookout reported that eight Tennessee Republican Senators, including Majority Leader Jack Johnson of Franklin, sent a letter to Governor Lee urging an independent review of Tony Carruthers’ failed execution attempt before the state moves forward with any other executions.

“The effort dragged on for well over an hour before the execution was called off. This was a failure of the State of Tennessee to carry a lawful sentence of its own courts,” the letter to Governor Lee says.

In addition to Majority Leader Jack Johnson, Sen. Ferrell Haile of Gallatin, Sen. Joey Hensley of Hohenwald, Sen. Becky Massey of Knoxville, Sen. Richard Briggs of Knoxville, Sen. Tom Hatcher of Maryville, Sen. Dawn White of Murfreesboro and Sen. Ken Yager of Kingston all signed the letter.

Later in the week, we learned that Senator Paul Bailey of Sparta signed on as well!

According to the Lookout, the senators told Governor Lee that before another execution is attempted, they want:

Every deficiency identified in a review to be corrected, as well as independent testing of lethal drugs for potency, sterility and contamination, confirmation the drugs aren’t expired and verification that personnel are qualified…test results and personnel qualifications made available to them and the public, “to the fullest extent consistent with law,” to verify the Department of Correction’s ability to perform executions.

TADP and our supporters (that’s you!) have urged more transparency in the execution process for years, educating lawmakers about our concerns and advocating for legislation that requires more transparency in executions.

This letter is a result of that work. You helped to make this happen!

TAKE ACTION: Join the chorus of Tennesseans from both sides of the aisle to urge Governor Lee to stop the execution of Darrell Hines on August 13 so concerns about Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol can be addressed.

P.S. Learn more about the failures of Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol in the Nashville Banner.