Tennessee is scheduled to execute Darrell Hines this week, despite bipartisan criticism following a previous botched lethal injection in May. The earlier attempt was cancelled after more than an hour.
Mr Hines, who was convicted of the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jackson Jenkins, is due to be executed on Thursday. His lawyers have asked the US Supreme Court to intervene, arguing he could face a similar outcome to Tony Carruthers, whose execution in May was prolonged and failed.
During Mr Carruthers's failed execution, an IV team and a physician reportedly spent approximately an hour and 15 minutes attempting to establish an IV line. Mr Carruthers's attorney, Maria DeLiberato, stated in a court declaration that the IV team pierced him over a dozen times, causing him to groan in pain. Governor Bill Lee granted Mr Carruthers a one-year reprieve.
Medical declarations filed by Mr Hines's lawyers indicate he is 66 years old, very thin, has significant muscular atrophy from recent strokes, and has arm stiffness that keeps his hand clenched, which could make establishing an IV line challenging. Kit Thomas, one of Mr Hines's attorneys, expressed concern about lifting a partially paralysed man from his hospital bed to strap him to a gurney for the procedure.
Concerns have also been raised about the involvement of Dr Mark Fowler, a physician whose identity became public after a previous execution. Dr Fowler was deposed by death row attorneys and reportedly stated the last time he had placed a central IV line was around 2013. The Tennessee Supreme Court recently denied Mr Hines's request to confirm if Dr Fowler would be involved in his execution.
Mr Hines's attorneys have also questioned the management of Tennessee's department of correction by Frank Strada, who previously oversaw prison operations in Arizona. During Mr Strada's tenure in Arizona, three executions reportedly involved prolonged and problematic attempts to establish IV access, with staff in two cases cutting open prisoners' groins to insert catheters after failing to insert IVs into their arms.
In June, nine Republican state senators in Tennessee wrote to the governor condemning Mr Carruthers's botched execution and urged an independent review of the procedures and drug testing. Governor Lee has declined to pause executions and denied Mr Hines's clemency petition.