2 nurses arrested in CA.....

[sarahr5]

2 nurses where arrested for giving a 80 year old man medication that was not prescribed by the doctor. The nurses worked on night shift and thought they would give him medication just to make him more comfortable because he was complaining of pain. So they thought instead of Disturbing the doctor they would just give him medication on their own.

Geez, why are nurses so scared of calling docs?

[jnette, ASN, EMT-I]

Hate to sound hardhearted, but I'm having a difficult time feeling sorry for these two. I mean geeeeeeeesh !!! It's such a MAJOR no-no ! Why on earth would they want to do this? How incredibly dumb. Wow.

Sure glad it wasn't MY dad... poor ol' fella.

[sarahr5]

Oh sorry guys I forgot to add the patient died. I am not joking. I believe they gave him a controlled narcotic.

[Mimi2RN, ASN, RN]

They probably thought that the doc would give it anyway, and if the patient hadn't died, he would have signed it in the am. Most likely, the same situation had happened before. As it is, they are up the creek without a paddle. A good reason to make a phone call, even if the doc gets upset. He isn't usually on call every night, and should expect to get his sleep interrupted.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I couldn't care less if a doctor is grumpy about being called in the middle of the night......that's why THEY make the big bucks! Of course, you don't want to call them 10 times a night, you get everyone together to group requests for orders, and you don't call for little things like "can this pt. have some Milk of Mag?" at 3 AM. But dang, why would any nurse with the sense God gave a goat give a sedative without an order?! If stupidity were a crime, these two would deserve a life sentence.

[pickledpepperRN]

It was in the paper:

Los Angeles Daily News

2 nurses charged in patient's death

By Susan Abram

Staff Writer

Friday, September 19, 2003 - BURBANK -- Two nurses at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center have been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of an elderly patient after admitting they gave him a prescription sedative without a doctor's order, officials said Friday.

Registered nurses Kelly Miyasato, 31, of Redondo Beach and Amy Brunner, 25, of Alhambra were charged this week in the June 7 death of 80-year-old Pierre Azar, of Burbank.

Azar, a terminally ill cancer patient being treated in the hospital's intensive care unit, died minutes after being given the sedative, officials said.

Police say the nurses were apparently trying to make Azar more comfortable, but were negligent because they did not contact the doctor first. The nurses came forward after Azar died and the hospital contacted police.

"They weren't trying to be sneaky about it. They were trying to be helpful, but you're not supposed to administer anything without a physician's consent," said Burbank police Sgt. Will Berry.

"They administered a drug that requires a doctor's knowledge. They told the doctor what they did. This is not a case of euthanasia."

Attorneys for Miyasato and Brunner could not be reached for comment.

Prosecutors said Miyasato, who has been a licensed nurse since 2000, administered the sedative. In addition to involuntary manslaughter, she has been charged with practicing medicine without certification.

Brunner, who was licensed as a registered and public health nurse since 2002, also was charged with conspiring and aiding and abetting Miyasato.

"We felt the circumstances in this particular case would support the charges filed," said Los Angeles district attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons.

Hospital spokesman Brian Greene said Miyasato and Brunner have since been fired for violating practices and procedures.

"We're deeply saddened for this family's loss," Greene said. "These nurses broke the rules of the hospital and the state of California."

If convicted, the nurses face up to four years in prison, officials said.

Brunner is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 16, with Miyasato's arraignment set for the next day. They are free on their own recognizance.

Susan Abram, [phone] [email protected]

[Rustyhammer]

Both fairly new nurses eh?

We can all learn and be reminded from their mistakes.

-Russell

[SmilingBluEyes]

agreed, russell.

[KLS]

This is such a tragedy.

Agreed, never hesitate to pick up that phone!

[nursesrocks]

can nurses give say over the counter medicine to patients? i don't think any nurses are allowed to give any kind of medication since this should be the doctor's job? just curious....

[elle4pets]

Don't laugh but a doctor where I work told me once to go ahead and write orders and she would sign them when she came in later that day if I really thought the patient needed it....needless to say I still call, she just didn't want to be bothered during office hours for 'stupid things like pain relief', I will not be held responsible for that- that is what the doctor gets paid for! And if it is something that can wait we have the MOX system so I can send a note that is just in house.

[EastCoast]

new here. so hi to all.

i do think the nurses were irresponsible. what is worrisome is that they actually 'collaborated' on this and thought it was okay. so how the heck did that conversation go?? you would think someone would say 'gee, this might be a bad idea'.

on the other side of the coin obviously these nurses felt comfortable doing this without notifying the doc. isn't that odd to feel that comfortable doing this? what's is the doc's usual behavior that there was this level of comfort.

i wish we knew what the sedative was and if the patient had received it previously without problem. the fact that the patient is/was terminally ill makes me wonder if they were on death's door and it was a unfortunate set of events and poor judgement that coincided with the patients death.

lastly, terminally ill on the ICU.... with a recoverable illness like chf or dying in the bed and no one addressing the end of life issues.

i hate when articles made nurses look bad but i can't help but shake my head and wonder what they were thinking.

[passing thru]

When doctors kill patients, who complains?

Who is to say the sedative killed him??

Terminally and critically ill....

.I've seen phenergan slow their respirations.....to a respiratory arrest.

They should be charged with practicing medicine without a license...or whatever they were doing.

but not with manslaughter....(a 2nd degree murder felony)

...the patient WAS dying...............