Nurse Charged With Homicide

Nurses General Nursing

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  1. Should Radonda Vaught, the nurse who gave a lethal dose of Vecuronium to patient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, be charged with reckless homicide?

    • 395
      She should not have been charged
    • 128
      She deserved to be charged

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Radonda Vaught, a 35 year old nurse who worked at the University of Medical Center, has been indicted on charges of reckless homicide. Read Nurse Gives Lethal Dose of Vecuronium

Radonda is the nurse who mistakenly gave Vecuronium (a paralytic) to a patient instead of Versed. The patient died.

Specializes in ED, ICU, Prehospital.
2 minutes ago, mtnNurse. said:

I don't believe in the moments she killed the patient that she was aware she might be killing the patient. Every single time you drive a car, are you aware that you might hit and kill someone by accident? I think she was being mindless in those fatal moments. If she were aware in those moments she would have remembered the safety measures.

It sounds like in her "helper nurse" role, she was used to running around and performing single tasks for different nurses. Maybe she was not taking report on the patients she was performing tasks for. So she probably assumed that the nurse who delegated the task to her made sure the patient wasn't allergic to the drug. You're right, assumptions are dangerous. But we have to make them all the time at our jobs. We assume syringes and vials are filled with the medication on the labels. If we could not assume and had to double-check everything fellow doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, etc. said and did, we not only would need a doctor's degree in addition to our nurses's degree but we would not have time to do our jobs. But you're right that certain assumptions should never be made. (It'd be helpful in a different thread to give less experienced nurses a list of what assumptions should never be made, if any of us ever feels up to that.)

None of what she did (that we know of from what's been discussed) makes her guilty of reckless homicide.

1. yes. yes i do. if you are not consistently and constantly aware of your surroundings and the consequences of driving a 3000lb weapon, then please tell me where you live so i can avoid driving there. sorry to be so blunt, but driving a car is probably on par with some of our work responsibilities, IMHO.

2. i don't assume anything, ever, when someone "hands me a syringe filled with medication". it's labeled or I don't use it. you're parsing. you are splitting this down to a very disturbing concept...

Is anything real? Can I trust that the label from the manufacturer is accurate? What if that aspirin is actually hemlock?

These things have happened IRL---dogfood with melamine in it, baby formula being cut deliberately with that same garbage, drs offices diluting botox and charging you out the wazoo for your frozen face (not lethal, but if they are unscrupulous in one way...)

There are lines. This is a society that has agreed on certain rules and regulations for daily life. You're not allowed to kill people. You're not allowed to steal. Etc. In this case, you're not allowed to break the rules of the Nurse Compact of your state, the rules of your unit, or the rules of your profession. When you break those rules, depending on the severity of the outcome, you are to be punished, else, nobody has incentive to follow the rules.

This circles always back to the same thing. Everyone wants to porifice this out and have heart rending tear filled support for her---she didn't do her job, in any way, shape or form---she knew the basics of nursing from day 1 of nursing school---and she chose to not perform the basic safety checks that are required of all nurses.

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7 minutes ago, HomeBound said:

you are to be punished, else, nobody has incentive to follow the rules.

I think nurses' desire to help people rather than kill them is enough incentive to do everything they can to care for patients safely. They don't need the incentive of punishment to want to do right by their patients. And again, none of what she did (that we know of from what's been discussed) makes her guilty of reckless homicide.

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30 minutes ago, kmcguirern said:

Physicians aren't charged criminally if they cause a patients death. In fact, I know several doctors that have made mistakes causing the deaths of several patients. That's what malpractice insurance is for. Civil cases are brought against them. They aren't charged with homicide. Nurses give the wrong meds all the time. Something like this could happen to any one of us. We can't let this happen to one of our own. If we can be charged for trying to help others, then no one will want to become a doctor or a nurse!

Thank you!! Someone gets it!!

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I contract for CMS through the State in which I live. I investigate complaints and concerns similar to the one that caused this issue. However, I specialize in long-term care facilities, not hospitals, but the federal regulations are somewhat similar.

With that being said, I agree that what this nurse did was reckless homicide. The full CMS report of their investigation can be found at https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5346023-CMS-Report.html?fbclid=IwAR2xQsxlfKxis4mecgrCSt-6XvKnSmKDeN7Sb_20is2oBbFICt_9xUDkyvQ#document/p6 It's about 60 pages long, which is not unusual for something of this severity. This nurse knowingly violated multiple standards of practice when she overrode the system, did not verify she had pulled the correct medication, and then left her patient in a room after administering a powerful benzodiazepine without adequate monitoring of the drug's effects. Her actions directly put the patient at risk and ultimately resulted in the patient's death.

The standard of reckless homicide also applies to other professions as well. See this story, about a truck driver who did not know his equipment hit a bridge, causing the death of another driver: https://newsok.com/article/5591833/truck-driver-charged-with-negligent-homicide-in-fatal-okc-wreck

Or this, about a physician over-prescribing medications, resulting in overdose deaths: https://www.wishtv.com/news/local-news/doctor-charged-with-3-counts-of-reckless-homicide_20180411102821344/1115052692

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22 hours ago, KatieMI said:

It looks just like trying to convict someone of homicide after accidentally hitting and killing a man while speeding 25 miles over speed limit.

It's funny you say that. One of the guys in my RN program had to leave because he was driving recklessly, got in a wreck, his wife was ejected and killed. And now's he facing manslaughter charges.

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Perhaps they are trying to make an example of her. I sat on a board where I had to sit and listen to medical error cases. Some patients died. You can't replace a life. Whether the patient would of forgiven her or not its irrelevant. The harm component for the law suit is there. I wonder what the root cause analysis of the hospital report reads. My heart goes out to the patient's family and to her, she is is a fellow nurse who made a bad mistake. She has my prayers.

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Look I appreciate the question of basically asking how could we prevent this from happening again? An important question that needs to be asked to hopefully narrowing the percentage of lethal errors occurring. Listen though, the most important part of the equation is the human element. You can't get rid of it! No one is above it and I mean no one.

Trust me when I say I'm not defending what she did was wrong, but what I am saying is that she is a statistic. A small percentage I'm sure, but still a statistic. I recognize that there is still a chance that could had or could be me and having that knowledge humbles me. I will definitely be trying to learn from example.

Ok my fellow nurses, this is why I am going to try my darnest to get out of this profession as soon as I can. I know my intention is to help people not to hurt people. I always said if there ever came a day that if I accidently hurt someone there would be no necessity to fire me because I would quit nursing all together. Alright, but these charges of homicide? What?! Never in my wildest dreams would I think I could go to jail with the intention of helping others. I can't wrap my head around this and quite frankly I don't ever won't to have the chance. Self sacrificing compassion is honorable, but not worth the jail time. I've got to get out as soon as possible. I know the percentage has to be small, but still there that I could one day be in a jail cell just like her.

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56 minutes ago, Ron Wallace said:

Whenever the pathology report came back and said the patient had been overdosed on the incorrect drug the pathologist reviewed the amount of the medication in the PT’s blood at the time and from there the facility probably did an investigation, then turned over their results to the authorities. Then the information was sent to a District Attorney and he/she is now prosecuting the charges.

Thank you. I was curious to see how all this went down. I guess in the end it doesn't matter.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, Prehospital.
17 minutes ago, mtnNurse. said:

I think nurses' desire to help people rather than kill them is enough incentive to do everything they can to care for patients safely. They don't need the incentive of punishment to want to do right by their patients. And again, none of what she did (that we know of from what's been discussed) makes her guilty of reckless homicide.

MtnNurse, I think you are most likely a very compassionate, caring, loving individual, who believes that nurses do this job because of desire to do good and be good.

There are good and bad in all walks of life. Nursing is not an exception. There are narcissists, liars, cheats, thieves, immoral, bankrupt people in this profession just as there are in others. Simply because you haven't yet been caught doing something immoral, bankrupt or illegal---doesn't mean that the behavior doesn't exist.

We have a whole forum for diverters, just as an example. Sad, sad, sad stories, and each of them runs the gamut from "i had a hard life" to "i was going through a divorce" to "i felt like it".

Withholding a patients' medication for personal use could very well kill a patient, yet it happens all the time.

There are nurses in the profession to be like you are---just do a good job and be happy with the feeling of accomplishment. Then there are those who are here for a paycheck and couldn't give a rat's rump about you, your grandma or the homeless guy. It's all a $$$ to them. Then there are the truly dangerous, that you hope are caught---the thieves, the liars, the cheats. The toxic ones that actually harm the unit and the patients with negligence.

I've watched nurses chart q2 turns...and they never got off their butts. Indirectly, they could be killing that patient by allowing a pressure wound to form. That patient may die just more slowly and painfully (although I cannot imagine anything more painful than knowingly suffocating like this woman did in the PET scan).

I've watched nurses not wash their hand from MRSA room to Cdiff room and back again. I've watched nurses place foleys with the worst possible technique, contaminating everything with feces and never saying a word.

These may not be as "dramatic" as the vec story. But these nurses are all around us. The rules are in place to deal with these people. There is no "the nurse just wants everything to be great and therefore will never have to have any rules placed on them". There's a reason for policy. Because people do what is expedient---and add that to the overwork and understaffing problem? You get the situation.

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Of course, she should be charged. Nurses are responsible for the well-being of a patient. The 5 rights are mandatory. The drugs don't even come with the same labeling. Dying from a paralytic is cruel. You lose your inability to move your diaphragm but are cognitive.

I am a ICU nurse of 27 years. It is frightening the way nurses would give a pass to a nurse who kills a patient . This is why I tell family members never leave their family member alone in a hospital.

I was injured rescuing a patient that's nurse killed recklessly. It is happening more and more.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, Prehospital.
1 hour ago, Crow31 said:

Thank you!! Someone gets it!!

https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/states-of-disgrace/76584

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1472712/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2711199/

https://www.mdedge.com/obgyn/article/63254/practice-management/stuff-nightmares-criminal-prosecution-malpractice

The definitions in the last article explain very clearly how "reckless homicide" is easily applied to this RN's behavior. By the same token---since the Supreme Court's decision that corporations are people too---Vandy should be charged with the same crime for creating the atmosphere that provided an inexperienced nurse the responsibility that should only have been given to a qualified, certified staff member. Not to mention, I would love to see what "TMS/LMS education" is provided for nurses on subjects such as light sedation and procedures/policies.

this company https://medfax.com/corp/platform

helps whoever can pay the fee--if it's a hospital, they use the database to screen and prevent doctors that are listed on these regulating boards from working at their facility. they don't care where else the doctor may go, just NIMBY, apparently.

if it's the doctor, this company helps him/her find a way to practice even when threats or actual losing their licenses happens.

Doctors have the resources to up and change locations and jobs when the consequences of their negligence catches up. The hospitals have zero incentive to publicize that their facility has one of these bad actors---and they don't prosecute.

It does not, however, mean that the doctor should not or would not be prosecuted if the facility pursued it.

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3 hours ago, Ron Wallace said:

“Horseshoe” TOLD ME SHE CANT READ.

I most certainly did not.

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