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

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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.

Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

Breaking news: The Institute for Safe Medicine Practices (ISMP)

supports Rodonda Vaught (RV).

In a statement released today, the ISMP:

  • Believes we have an obligation to change the culture of blame, abandonment, and isolation towards second victims
  • States there were no effective systems in place to prevent removing and administering a neuromuscular blockade after override
  • Does not believe criminal action will improve safety
  • Urges leaders to be accountable, avoid the severity bias and establish a Just Culture
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19 hours ago, Crow31 said:

Stuff pops up all the time even when we chart and get certain medications. My suggestion is just that a suggestion. Here's how the code would work. 1. Pick the paralytic you want. 2. Now a hard stop pops up something like "Paralytic code required" 3. Enter Code Maybe not a practical idea using a code, but the concept still remains. There needs to be a hard stop with certain medications. I mean crap I have a hard stop to put in a pain scale when I give Tylenol.

That is a problem.

Using multiple hard stops and pop-ups and messages to meet billing and regulatory goals and having them all mixed in with the safety messages we are supposed to be receiving is a major issue.

In this case the messaging on the ADC when she went to take the vecuronium said something like [it] was only to be used for a STAT order. That use of "warnings" is as good as no message at all. It requires no interaction (I'm familiar with having to answer a question about whether the patient is ventilated when removing such meds) - and what kind of messaging is that, anyway? Used with a STAT order? Right up until auto-profiling, anything you wanted sometime today had to be entered as either "NOW" or "STAT." It's just like the override issue - used so often that is disingenuous to suddenly act like it was supposed to be a safety measure.

And why create a message like "only for STAT order" when you could use that space tosay "CAUSES RESPIRATORY ARREST." Better yet, make it interactive. "CAUSES RESPIRATORY ARREST. Is this patient's ventilation being supported? Y/N"

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Specializes in ER.

I think that's a big problem, that we are getting bombarded with constant warnings and alerts, many of which are redundant. We end up tuning them out because that's what the human brain does.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
10 hours ago, Nurse Beth said:

Breaking news: The Institute for Safe Medicine Practices (ISMP)

supports Rodonda Vaught (RV).

In a statement released today, the ISMP:

  • Believes we have an obligation to change the culture of blame, abandonment, and isolation towards second victims
  • States there were no effective systems in place to prevent removing and administering a neuromuscular blockade after override
  • Does not believe criminal action will improve safety
  • Urges leaders to be accountable, avoid the severity bias and establish a Just Culture

At last -- a voice of reason!

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.
On 2/9/2019 at 12:45 AM, HomeBound said:

The other thing that is really ticking me off is the deletion of her twitter, facebook, snapchat and all that social media--

her lawyer is advising her well. Why?

Why is her lawyer advising her well?? Because they are her lawyer. Same as not being interrogated without your lawyer present, or your right to not self-incriminate. It doesn't mean you are hiding something...its just what you do. Its what lawyers advise. (And yeah, her social media probably wasn't much fun for her anyway, if she was getting hate messages since all the attention in the news.)

On 2/9/2019 at 12:45 AM, HomeBound said:

Put the phones down, folks. Just a word from an old timer. It's getting really, really disgustingly annoying to those of us who turn the phone off and do the job--to see you all on your phones. It's going to be a big thing at this point, that when a nurse is involved in these mistakes, their social media crap is going to be entered into evidence. IT SHOULD BE.

If Radonda is found to have been diddling on her phone during the hour this woman was dying?

Maybe THAT is exactly what tipped the prosecutor's office to charge her. Just a thought.

put the phones away.


This whole "put the phones away" thing is a red herring though. (And reminds me of those folks who write "put your phone away" in the comment section of every. single. report. of a car accident that they know nothing about, as if there never existed any driving distractions prior to the advent of the cell phone. Giant foldable maps, anyone? How about trying to find the cassette tape you are looking for in the glove box?)

The phone thing is pure speculation, first of all. And if something as peripheral as the use of her phone is a real concern, then staffing issues and a culture of constantly operating on the edge of chaos in the name of "efficiency" should be even bigger concerns.

But it isn't about system error, right? It's about her failing to exercise basic nursing prudence, right?

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It would help if there was more human interaction. A computer can't talk. There should be a code that needs to be obtained and questioned about by the pharmacist. I am certain that would help a nurse that isn't thinking straight and it could also cut down on nurses that take meds for their own purposes. It could even stop nurses that kill patients deliberately.

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8 hours ago, Ruby Vee said:

At last -- a voice of reason!

?

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On 2/6/2019 at 9:16 AM, magellan said:

There's a lot of horror stories when there is no nurse patient ratio being implemented across the board. That's why this things are happening again and again when it comes to the delivery of medications much more during the crucial period of patient's lives. At the present time, I'm practicing nursing in the State of California and we are just fortunate that the patients are given quality care as compared to other states that doesn't employ such ruling. Hopefully, the nurse patient ratio law should be implemented in the continental US asap to avoid fatal errors in all aspect of care.

While I'd be the first to agree with this statement of needing nurse patient ratio laws across the U.S, I vehemently disagree with the notion that the entire State of California gives their patients a higher quality of care in comparison to all other states. I've practiced in several states and to me California hospitals have the greatest varied difference in quality of care between separate institutions that lie within the same region than any other state I've practiced in.

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Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
5 hours ago, gcupid said:

While I'd be the first to agree with this statement of needing nurse patient ratio laws across the U.S, I vehemently disagree with the notion that the entire State of California gives their patients a higher quality of care in comparison to all other states. I've practiced in several states and to me California hospitals have the greatest varied difference in quality of care between separate institutions that lie within the same region than any other state I've practiced in.

The variability in quality of care I do agree on. Maybe what was meant was that there are strong union protections in many hospitals. For instance, nurses can fill out an "Assignment Despite Objection" form as a way to tell the manager that "yes, I'm not going to abandon my patients but you're putting me in an unsafe situation and you can be held liable if something were to happen".

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4 hours ago, gcupid said:

While I'd be the first to agree with this statement of needing nurse patient ratio laws across the U.S, I vehemently disagree with the notion that the entire State of California gives their patients a higher quality of care in comparison to all other states. I've practiced in several states and to me California hospitals have the greatest varied difference in quality of care between separate institutions that lie within the same region than any other state I've practiced in.

Maybe this incident will force other states to follow California's nurse ratio.

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Specializes in ER.
1 hour ago, indienurse said:

Maybe this incident will force other states to follow California's nurse ratio.

Highly doubtful ?

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On 2/14/2019 at 8:47 AM, JKL33 said:

And why create a message like "only for STAT order" when you could use that space tosay "CAUSES RESPIRATORY ARREST." Better yet, make it interactive. "CAUSES RESPIRATORY ARREST. Is this patient's ventilation being supported? Y/N"

This is probably the most reasonable suggestion that I have seen in this entire thread of 500+ posts.

The pharmacy can put a warning of any kind of any type of medication selected. Not even kidding...this is a PHENOMENAL idea.

There are a variety of very small medication storage/dispensing options. I just wonder if these types of drugs that would only be used in true emergency should be kept on non-critical floors in a separate system.

Someone working in ICU or ER is going to be far more aware of their presence in the same Pyxis than someone on med-surg that may only pull them a couple of times a month.

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