Did anyone hear about this nurse from NJ that is being indicted for killing a man by injecting him with a paralytic agent after he was extubated? As the story goes, the family had decided to take him off the vent and just let him go. The nurse being charged was just watching the pt while the regular nurse went to lunch. When she came back from lunch, the patient was dead and the covering nurse was with him.
I dont believe this nurse acted maliciously. She had a spotless record in CT ICU for 11 years at Jersey Shore UMC. She must have made a fatal med error. Can anyone in ICU understand how something like this can happen? Is this drug something you might just carry around in your pocket for your vent pt or does it have to be signed out? Is it in a vial similar to something more benign and she might have just confused the 2? Why would she be medicating someone elses pt? Do you normally give afternoon meds for someone while they go to lunch?
Now she is facing a mandatory 30 years/no parole if she is convicted. This is so horrific all around for the man, his family and the nurse and hers.
