A physician who was expected to oversee Tennessee's failed execution of Christa Pike on Wednesday was previously involved in another botched lethal injection effort that was halted after prison staff were unable to establish IV access. Mark Fowler, a Tennessee physician who worked as a public defender before entering medicine, previously said that he would serve as the overseeing physician during Christa Pike's execution on September 30. Fowler declined to comment to NBC News after the failed execution.
Local outlet WVLT reported that he oversaw the procedure but it remains unclear what specific role he played. Pike was administered two doses of pentobarbital after spending three decades on death row for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, which she committed at age 18. But after the drugs were administered, witnesses described how Pike could still be seen breathing and heard loudly snoring before she was transported by ambulance to a hospital for treatment.
Fowler has previously been involved in a number of publicly reported executions in Tennessee, including the failed execution of Tony Carruthers in May 2026. Newsweek reached out to Fowler via email for comment outside of regular working hours but did not receive a response at time of publication. Mark Fowler, also known as Mark Walton Fowler, is a doctor best known for his roles in state executions in Tennessee.
Fowler, 69, began his career as a public defender where he spent three years representing a number of capital punishment defendants. But by the mid-90s, he left to retrain as a doctor at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. Since graduating, Fowler has worked as an ER physician, family doctor and has been reported to hold several medical directorships, including a wound-care facility and clinics focused on weight loss and aesthetics.
According to The Guardian, Fowler became involved in executions after accompanying a friend who served as Tennessee's execution physician to an execution in 2018. He makes $3,000 for every execution he attends. He also frequently writes articles for conservative media outlet The Patriot Post.
In articles Fowler has argued that companies risk damaging their brands through LGBTQ+-related marketing campaigns, that Democrats are out of touch with mainstream voters and attacked the policies of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani. While there is not a public record of every execution that Fowler has been involved with, he has been reported as the doctor in several high-profile cases in recent years. In August 2025, Fowler’s identity was accidentally made public when a prison officer inadvertently disclosed it while announcing the death of Byron Black.
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