Nurse Charged With Homicide

Published

  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

523 members have participated

image.png.99c04ebc5c4fabc518315a1b77c9e8b9.png

Radonda Vaught, a 35 year old nurse who worked at the University of Vanderbilt University 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.

On 2/7/2019 at 1:03 PM, LibraNurse27 said:

I agree she most likely did not know that midazolam was the generic name for Versed and also did not know much about the effects of Versed or monitoring usually associated with it. However since it was not emergent or even urgent to give this medication she should have taken the time to ask someone about the medication or ask for help when she couldn't find it rather than overriding it. And she DEFINITELY should have looked at the vial, after she pulled it, while she was drawing from it, before she administered the med... at all the times when nurses are supposed to look at what they are doing.

I understand nursing is super stressful and there is pressure to get things done quickly and it is difficult to find someone who is available to consult with. However it is much better to be reprimanded for being too slow because you insisted on doing things safely than to cause injury or death.

I am afraid to ask this but I have a safety question regarding a practice at my facility: We do not have a monitor that we are able to bring into the MRI room (poor community hospital!) so if a patient cannot be off monitor we have to wait for them to be stable to do MRI. If the patient is claustrophobic sometimes the doctor will order PO ativan 30 mins to one hour before (usually 0.5mg for patients with no benzo tolerance and 1-2 mg for those chronically using benzos) and in some cases they order IV (with same dosing as the PO but 5 to 15 mins before or to be given during the MRI if patient gets anxious during the test). In this case we are expected to wait for order and pharmacy verification, pull the med (not override) and scan, etc. but we ARE expected to go to MRI and give it and then go back to the floor to care for our other patients. I usually stay for a few minutes or ask someone to stay if I am truly worried about the patient. Also the MRI techs talk to the patient continuously and can see the patient during the entire scan. They call us immediately if any concerns. I know ativan is different than versend and 0.5mg is not much but after reading this I am so nervous about this practice. Would it be best to advocate that a nurse needs to stay in MRI if a patient gets any type of possibly sedating med? We are always short staffed so will be difficult to implement but I don't want to compromise patient safety. Thanks all!

You made an excellent point, even if she was given the correct medication, what were the safety protocols were in place to properly monitor the patient?

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
21 minutes ago, Tenebrae said:

If you arent familiar with a medication, you look it up!

Or ask someone who works in the area. I'm sorry the "I've never worked in that area, and dont know their medications excuse" does not fly

No, I highly disagree, not in the situation I described. So a medical surgical nurse or psych nurse should be pulling ICU medications and giving it? Although all nurses are required basic nursing training, there also unit specific training that provides the nurse the competency to work on that unit.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
1 minute ago, johsonmichelle said:

No, I highly disagree, not in the situation I described. So a medical surgical nurse or psych nurse should be pulling ICU medications? Although all nurses are required basic nursing training, there also unit specific training that provides the nurse the competency to work on that unit.

You highly disagree that if you dont know a medication you should look it up or ask someone?

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
6 minutes ago, Tenebrae said:

You highly disagree that if you dont know a medication you should look it up or ask someone?

Of course not. I don't think you understand my point. Apparently this nurse was serving as a resource nurse. For example, if you are a medical surgical nurse, and you were pulled to the ICU as a resource nurse/helping hands and a physician ordered an ICU medication that was appropriate but you never received training for it, would you administer the medication?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.
14 minutes ago, johsonmichelle said:

Of course not. I don't think you understand my point. Apparently this nurse was serving as a resource nurse. For example, if you are a medical surgical nurse, and you were pulled to the ICU as a resource nurse/helping hands and a physician ordered an ICU medication that was appropriate but you never received training for it, would you administer the medication?

No.

2
Up Vote Up Vote ×
On 2/7/2019 at 5:13 PM, AlTennRN said:

I worked at Vanderbilt for a few years up until last month. (I only left so I could stay st home with a baby). The “help all” Nurse is an extra nurse that is staffed to go around helping anyone who needs help and who helps cover lunches. If you’re busy and a pt needs a new IV or a glucose stick or help pulling up a pt, etc...it’s just an extra set of hands (and a brain) to keep everyone caught up. There is no extra training required beyond an RN license. Normally though the “help all” might watch the other nurses patients so he or she could run down to radiology and administer the medication themselves.

I have a question, at Vanderbilt, can a resource float/helping hands nurse from one specialty be floated to another speciality? If so, doesn't that jeopardize patient safety?

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
On 2/7/2019 at 9:05 AM, Crow31 said:

Me neither. I'm seriously looking into another career starting today. Maybe rash and over dramatic for some, but not illogical to me. Really think about your day and the factors that play against you to make mistakes and then think if it's possible to make a lethal one? The answer of course is yes and the higher the chance depending on where you work. To think of how something like this would effect my family. I'm out!

Your sentiments are neither rash or dramatic. They are very valid points and situations like these, can sometimes cause one to second guess their career choice. Not only has her professional profile been tarnished , her personal life is also being destroyed especially with this reckless homicide charges being placed on her record.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
20 minutes ago, johsonmichelle said:

Of course not. I don't think you understand my point. Apparently this nurse was serving as a resource nurse. For example, if you are a medical surgical nurse, and you were pulled to the ICU as a resource nurse/helping hands and a physician ordered an ICU medication that was appropriate but you never received training for it, would you administer the medication?

Except she WAS an ICU nurse acting as a resource nurse in the ICU and was administering an ICU level medication. Not only that but she was a CERTIFIED ICU nurse. This discussion is about this particular incident not about the myriad of other things that could happen.

2
Up Vote Up Vote ×
1 minute ago, Wuzzie said:

Except she WAS an ICU nurse acting as a resource nurse in the ICU and was administering an ICU level medication. Not only that but she was a CERTIFIED ICU nurse. This discussion is about this particular incident not about the myriad of other things that could happen.

I understand that which is why I left the nurse out of the question. I understand that we are discussing about this nurse, but this incident has also highlighted a myriad of other issues.

1
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Just now, johsonmichelle said:

I understand that which is why I left the nurse out of the question. I understand that we are discussing about this nurse, but this incident has also highlighted a myriad of other issues.

Which would be a GREAT topic for a new thread (hint, hint) The problem with bringing it up here is some reader is going to misunderstand and think she was a med-surg nurse floated to ICU which will just confuse the issue. It nearly happened when someone mixed up this thread with another and started talking about how the physician was to blame for giving a verbal order. Which was not true.

Have you read the full CMS report? It will blow your mind.

2
Up Vote Up Vote ×
4 minutes ago, Wuzzie said:

Which would be a GREAT topic for a new thread (hint, hint) The problem with bringing it up here is some reader is going to misunderstand and think she was a med-surg nurse floated to ICU which will just confuse the issue. It nearly happened when someone mixed up this thread with another and started talking about how the physician was to blame for giving a verbal order. Which was not true.

Have you read the full CMS report? It will blow your mind.

No do you have the link? Speaking of the physician, was the original order of versed , even appropriate for the patient and situation?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
47 minutes ago, johsonmichelle said:

Of course not. I don't think you understand my point. Apparently this nurse was serving as a resource nurse. For example, if you are a medical surgical nurse, and you were pulled to the ICU as a resource nurse/helping hands and a physician ordered an ICU medication that was appropriate but you never received training for it, would you administer the medication?

I would never give a medication that I didnt know what it was for.

I certainly would never pull a medication and give it without double checking it against the order. I work as an agency nurse (think resource nurse) and one day am on a pysch ward and the next day doing conscious sedation for women undergoing egg harvesting in a fertility clinic. I make damm sure I understand the drugs and the protocols before jumping in at the deep end.

And its somewhat of a moot point in this case anyhow the nurse was specialised as an ICU nurse, so should have known the difference between versed and vercuronium

4
Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion