NPR's take on RV

Nurses General Nursing

Published

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/04/10/709971677/when-a-nurse-is-prosecuted-for-a-fatal-medical-mistake-does-it-make-medicine-saf

I am usually a big proponent of NPR's balanced reporting. But there are so many of us who have feelings about this it seems...awkward and perhaps a touch lazy to let the ANA and one nurse who does safety research speak for all of us.

At any rate, we may learn more tomorrow.

15 minutes ago, Emergent said:

In short, NPR is hardly the gold standard of stellar journalism. They are a gilded example of East Coast, Ivy Leagued elitism.

Thank God they finally retired the insufferable Diane Rehm. She was a prime example of everything that is wrong with the insular NPR.

Shows like 1-A do give me hope for a more balanced future...

I take your comments as a compliment, as I am from the east coast, and have no problems with the Ivy League.

NPR is for those wanting to expand their horizons. It is not for the insular, and those intimidated by the highly educated.

It also isn't for whiners.

There is a network that does seem to cultivate whiners, and those who are intimidated by the Ivy League; Fox.

No classical music to contend with.

No feminsts either.

Just a bunch of White men yelling at themselves, and each other.

8 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
5 minutes ago, Lil Nel said:

I take your comments as a compliment, as I am from the east coast, and have no problems with the Ivy League.

NPR is for those wanting to expand their horizons. It is not for the insular, and those intimidated by the highly educated.

It also isn't for whiners.

There is a network that does seem to cultivate whiners, and those who are intimidated by the Ivy League; Fox.

No classical music to contend with.

No feminsts either.

Just a bunch of White men yelling at themselves, and each other.

You're trashing Fox? Yes, sometimes they're a bit full-on (to use a British expression) but they're where I go to get The Rest of the Story. They do have feminists, liberals, people of colour. I hear a lot of viewpoints on Fox. Some commentators I like better than others. I have not heard any whining; in fact whining is a rather pejorative term for expressing dislike for something generally approved of.

What I hear about Fox is how terrible they are, by people who also say "I don't watch Fox!" So how do you know how bad they are without watching?

I'm reserving judgement about NPR because I haven't listened to it in a long time, mainly because I don't spend much time listening to radio.

5 Votes
Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

Several off-topic posts have been removed. Please keep on topic.

22 hours ago, TriciaJ said:

In any of the media accounts I've read, there is always a part about "nurses around the country are rushing to her defense". It sounds as though we're all rising up en masse. No mention that a lot of us (maybe the majority) are horrified at such careless practice and cannot support it unless someone gives us a much better reason than we've heard so far.

Of course, they're all still touting it as a "medication error". I really don't want the public thinking this is a routine error and that we all think there should be no accountability.

Next year when the "most trusted professions" survey comes out, wonder if we'll have dropped a few rungs?

I agree that defending her might not be in the nursing profession's best interests, but it's true that there are nurses who are visibly supporting her. Some nurses even came to her hearing to show support.

Nurses who are reserving judgement or don't support her at this point seem to be confined to an anonymous, online chat room. As far as the public is concerned, nurses support her.

1 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
2 hours ago, FSZ Student Nurse said:

I agree that defending her might not be in the nursing profession's best interests, but it's true that there are nurses who are visibly supporting her. Some nurses even came to her hearing to show support.

Nurses who are reserving judgement or don't support her at this point seem to be confined to an anonymous, online chat room. As far as the public is concerned, nurses support her.

I'm not advocating throwing anyone to the wolves but what's so unfair about being held accountable for one's own actions? One of RV's supporters was quoted saying something to the effect of "No one should go to work worried that they're going to make the big error that changes lives forever." Is she kidding? I went to work for 35 years and worried about exactly that every day. I thought it went with the territory.

There are things we are required to do to demonstrate worthiness of the public's trust in us. Renouncing all accountability just doesn't seem like a good move.

5 Votes
Specializes in OB.
21 hours ago, Emergent said:

In short, NPR is hardly the gold standard of stellar journalism. They are a gilded example of East Coast, Ivy Leagued elitism.

Thank God they finally retired the insufferable Diane Rehm. She was a prime example of everything that is wrong with the insular NPR.

Shows like 1-A do give me hope for a more balanced future...

I agree that this article missed the mark and was way too broad. I fail to see how that equates to East Coast, Ivy Leagued elitism? Can you explain further?

2 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
44 minutes ago, LibraSunCNM said:

I agree that this article missed the mark and was way too broad. I fail to see how that equates to East Coast, Ivy Leagued elitism? Can you explain further?

I understood that statement to refer to Emergent's opinion of NPR in general, and not specifically the article. I agree with you about the article completely missing the mark and overall, I think was misleading.

1 Votes
Specializes in Home Health (PDN), Camp Nursing.

The legal precedents for this are fairly new but do exist. The arrest and conviction of Dr Christopher Duntsch in Texas was really what this case set to mind for me.

The hospitals were covering up the botched surgeries, the medical board was unable or unwilling to make an investigation. In the interest of public safety, the prosecutor filed charges to stop him from crippling people with incompetence .

I have read the CMS and TBI reports and I’m shocked that someone could practice so recklessly. However I think the need to bring criminal charges seems more justified in the fact that the Tenn BON has not disciplined this nurse at all. When someone screws up the job bad enough to kill, you can’t give them a head pat and tell them it’s ok. I’m not saying throw them all in jail either, but nothing TBON! That’s the real issue for me.

Additionally the doctor and anyone involved in the coverup of the death should be at least put on the exclusion list and disciplined. I’m upset that hasn’t happened.

This is the nursing equivalent of a traffic stop for an out tail light that ends in a man shot in the back. You expect discipline and charges for police officers when they behave unsafe in a manner not consistent with their training, or the standard of their profession. Why should nursing be different?

7 Votes
Specializes in NICU/Neonatal transport.
2 hours ago, Alex Egan said:

The legal precedents for this are fairly new but do exist. The arrest and conviction of Dr Christopher Duntsch in Texas was really what this case set to mind for me.

The hospitals were covering up the botched surgeries, the medical board was unable or unwilling to make an investigation. In the interest of public safety, the prosecutor filed charges to stop him from crippling people with incompetence .

I have read the CMS and TBI reports and I’m shocked that someone could practice so recklessly. However I think the need to bring criminal charges seems more justified in the fact that the Tenn BON has not disciplined this nurse at all. When someone screws up the job bad enough to kill, you can’t give them a head pat and tell them it’s ok. I’m not saying throw them all in jail either, but nothing TBON! That’s the real issue for me.

Additionally the doctor and anyone involved in the coverup of the death should be at least put on the exclusion list and disciplined. I’m upset that hasn’t happened.

This is the nursing equivalent of a traffic stop for an out tail light that ends in a man shot in the back. You expect discipline and charges for police officers when they behave unsafe in a manner not consistent with their training, or the standard of their profession. Why should nursing be different?

The only thing I disagree with is that the "coverup" is less impressive to me. It was a bunch of independent people making mistakes that ended up letting it fall through the cracks.

If the hospital was really trying to cover it up, they wouldn't have reported it to the BoN, sent out a sentinal event alert, and the other things they did that were not hidden at all. The doc answered a question wrong to the ME, but did give enough information that the ME should have also investigated it. The "coverup" is closer to the swiss cheese model, lots of independent people making small independent errors that culminated in a larger errors.

1 Votes
Specializes in Home Health (PDN), Camp Nursing.
10 minutes ago, LilPeanut said:

The only thing I disagree with is that the "coverup" is less impressive to me. It was a bunch of independent people making mistakes that ended up letting it fall through the cracks.

If the hospital was really trying to cover it up, they wouldn't have reported it to the BoN, sent out a sentinal event alert, and the other things they did that were not hidden at all. The doc answered a question wrong to the ME, but did give enough information that the ME should have also investigated it. The "coverup" is closer to the swiss cheese model, lots of independent people making small independent errors that culminated in a larger errors.

Fair. A little hyperbole from me. However a death certificate is a big deal to screw up.

3 Votes
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
21 minutes ago, LilPeanut said:

The only thing I disagree with is that the "coverup" is less impressive to me. It was a bunch of independent people making mistakes that ended up letting it fall through the cracks.

If the hospital was really trying to cover it up, they wouldn't have reported it to the BoN, sent out a sentinal event alert, and the other things they did that were not hidden at all. The doc answered a question wrong to the ME, but did give enough information that the ME should have also investigated it. The "coverup" is closer to the swiss cheese model, lots of independent people making small independent errors that culminated in a larger errors.

Are you sure it was the hospital that reported it? I got the impression it was a whistle blower about a year after the event.

Specializes in NICU/Neonatal transport.
1 minute ago, TriciaJ said:

Are you sure it was the hospital that reported it? I got the impression it was a whistle blower about a year after the event.

They reported it to the BoN, they sent out a sentinel event alert and a few other things, but the official notification to the medicare didn't happen, which is why to me it looks more sloppy administration, less concerted coverup.

You would think it wouldn't be that difficult, yet to get credentials at a hospital, it can take over 6 months because of admins dropping the ball, staff turnover etc. Each time I've had to get credentialled it was just honestly a nightmare because of turnover etc. I can see how it can get missed, especially if someone quit or was fired around that time.

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