Nurses Call the Governor of Tennessee

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Feb 12, 2019

11 minutes ago, Horseshoe said:
Do we know that they haven't? Haven't others said that they don't disclose that until all investigation is complete and a decision has been made?
I don't know anything about Tennessee BON practices, just restating what (IIRC) has been stated on these threads.

If they have, they are super slow...though, you would think that would have leaked in the media. There's no mention of it on their meeting minutes that's available to the public: https://www.tn.gov/health/health-program-areas/health-professional-boards/nursing-board/nursing-board/meeting-minutes.html.

bsyrn, ASN, RN · Feb 12, 2019

How about a go fund me page for the family of the person she killed. I cannot believe her page raised $48,000. People are truly misinformed. She is NOT THE VICTIM and deserves no compensation!

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2019

4 hours ago, Emergent said:
I did make a small donation to help her through this ordeal. I'm curious, did she lack personal malpractice insurance? That sounds like a possibility.

Regarding medical malpractice insurance, I don't believe it would be of help to her:

Quote
Medical malpractice does not cover liability that arises from sexual misconduct, criminal acts, and inappropriate alteration of medical records.

https://www.iii.org/article/understanding-medical-malpractice-insurance

tiffanyselah · Feb 12, 2019

The problem that no one is mentioning is the system. I've run down to CT and given meds in a hurry to a patient I didn' t know... with an assignment of cp and strokes and sepsis patients of my own! And that's in cali with ratio's. I gave a patient IM dilaudid in a fast track area and was bullied by the physician and the charge nurse because I insisted on monitoring the patient before he went home. They wanted me to dc him home with DILAUDID. This wasn't the only time. The doctor left me there alone and went home because he felt it was unnecessary to monitor the patient. of course the patient almost died and I had to check him back in during my monitoring period. But the pressure for nurses to bypass the system is so strong that it takes a terribly strong person who is able to tolerate much bullying to deal with this. I have endured going out of ratio because I insisted on monitoring my patient when taking a new med. I was given an extra patient to take over "when I was done" right outside of the hallway of the patient I was monitoring.

I do understand that we are a profession and we have responsibilities. And I can see this nurse should be held responsible, but shouldn't also the people who asked her to do that be held just as responsible? Should the charge nurse and administrators who did not allow for the right thing to happen also be prosecuted. I'm sure this nurse had an assignment. Was she in charge of 4 other people with orders piling up (responsibilities) while she was in radiology giving that medication? What about those patients? What if one of her patients in her room died of a massive heart attack because she was in radiology pushing a medication?

In most of the hospitals I've worked in there are no scanners in any radiology areas because patients don't get meds there, they get meds in their room. Why was she even asked to give a med in such a place? What there appropriate monitoring equipment in the room such as pulse ox, heart monitor? Was there a proper area for treatment if the patient coded? no, those things are in the room. This is why the patients should get meds in the room. Why was she even asked to give meds to a sick patient in a place where appropriate treatment could not be provided if the patient coded? Which they did.

Not that the nurse shouldn't be held responsible, but honestly so should the people who asked her to do such an irresponsible thing. Why charge the prostitute and not the John? The charge nurse and administrative personell hold rank above us nurses and ask us daily to do things that are illegal and when we refuse they laugh in our faces and ask someone else who doesn't know better or have the guts to say no. This is what should end. You can jail this person, but the mistake will continue to happen because it wasn't her bright idea. She was told to do this by a superior. She was told to BYPASS CHECKS by her superior! If she goes, those who meditated with her to commit this crime of bypassing checks should go with her.

Now that will be justice served. But as per usual, the doctor will make the decisions and give the orders and the nurses with burn when the problems arrive. I wonder when we as a society will get tired of watching our family members die so some hospital administrator can make their bonus for the year.

ruby_jane, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2019

2 hours ago, juan de la cruz said:
If they have, they are super slow...though, you would think that would have leaked in the media. There's no mention of it on their meeting minutes that's available to the public: https://www.tn.gov/health/health-program-areas/health-professional-boards/nursing-board/nursing-board/meeting-minutes.html.

She has the right to a fact-finding that isn't contaminated by hearsay - sort of like being innocent until proven guilty.

Advanced Practice Columnist / Guide · Feb 12, 2019

7 minutes ago, ruby_jane said:
She has the right to a fact-finding that isn't contaminated by hearsay - sort of like being innocent until proven guilty.

And who here is disputing that?

tiffanyselah · Feb 12, 2019

This is what I sent to the DA, Mr. Funk: Mr. Funk, ACCOMPLICE - someone who intentionally does something to encourage or help another person to commit a crime. If you are sending this woman, Ms. Vaught to jail for something you call a crime, what about the person who directed her to commit this crime? I applaud you in your attempt to rectify this horrible situation with Ms. Vaught. I however see weakness in your attempt. I and countless other nurses are placed in this very exact situation daily, especially in the ER. I've done it, many other nurses have done it. While you are prosecuting her for the patient in the scanner, her 4, 5, or 6 other patients with heart attacks, strokes, etc were waiting for her in their rooms. Doctors orders pile up, medications for stroke, heart attack meds, ordered. No one to give it but us, and someone asks us to run down to the scanner and "quickly give this med." By luck and grace we usually get away with this unscathed. However, by putting this woman in jail you are doing nothing. She will go to jail and the PEOPLE that direct this sort of behavior will continue to run their hospitals and receive bonus' larger than your yearly pay. They will continue to ask 21 and 22 year old kids to do this over and over. Threaten to take away their livelihood if they do not, and bully them until they finally give in, bypass the checks in place and do what is asked of them. Yes, put the weak ones in jail and the new ones will fall into the same pit. I don't want to make suggestions to you that are more than you can handle, but I want to ASSURE you, that this practice will continue long after you are gone with your chosen path. You want to provide justice? Prosecute along with her those who ordered her to do this. Why put the prostitute in jail and not the John? I'm sure if you even attempted to try and prosecute any administrator in the hospital, the powers that be would probably have your head and your job. But you would be honoring a system of justice. It wasn't her bright idea to give this med. She probably would have been charting, or sitting, or using the bathroom.
Instead someone told her to do this wrong. That same person, unscathed, will continue to order their subordinates to do so, with consequences if they do not. So good luck with this path of prosecuting caregivers for doing exactly what they are told. You are well within your rights of doing so, but to what end? If it's to jail some sad broken poor woman, you can easily do that. But if you are attempting to enact change, to right an error before it possibly happens to you then you are going about it completely wrong. If you constantly attack the minions and not the boss, you will get nowhere. Minions are minions, they can always be replaced; but you already knew that.

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 12, 2019

9 minutes ago, tiffanyselah said:
This is what I sent to the DA, Mr. Funk: Mr. Funk, ACCOMPLICE - someone who intentionally does something to encourage or help another person to commit a crime. If you are sending this woman, Ms. Vaught to jail for something you call a crime, what about the person who directed her to commit this crime? \

Who exactly directed her to skip not just one, not just two, not just three, but many more safety checks that each and every prudent nurse knows is a standard of nursing practice?

mtmkjr, BSN · Feb 12, 2019

@tiffanyselah you sound like a very conscientious nurse who cares a lot about the safety of your patients.

I think that before putting so much energy into posting here and sending off uninformed letters to the DA or whoever, you should see what the facts you are dealing with.

The facts are contrary to what you seem to believe about the case. For one thing, she did not have a patient load. No one told her to override anything that was her own recklessness

In addition, the posters here have acknowledged that there are system failures at play. However, there is no system failure that can account for the failure of this nurse to safely administer the drug she was giving to the patient.

Here is the CMS report.

https://www.wsmv.com/cms-report---vumc/pdf_a7ea6b5e-f41f-11e8-af7b-570ec9f22209.html

JadedCPN, BSN, RN · Feb 12, 2019

11 minutes ago, tiffanyselah said:
If you are sending this woman, Ms. Vaught to jail for something you call a crime, what about the person who directed her to commit this crime?...While you are prosecuting her for the patient in the scanner, her 4, 5, or 6 other patients with heart attacks, strokes, etc were waiting for her in their rooms.

Did you read any bit of the CMS report or do any actual research prior to writing this? I’m going to assume the answer is no based on this.

She admitted to being in the role of a “help all” nurse who does not have their own assignment and whose sole purpose is to help the other staff.

tiffanyselah · Feb 12, 2019

I sent this to the DA: Mr. Funk, ACCOMPLICE - someone who intentionally does something to encourage or help another person to commit a crime. If you are sending this woman, Ms. Vaught to jail for something you call a crime, what about the person who directed her to commit this crime? I applaud you in your attempt to rectify this horrible situation with Ms. Vaught. I however see weakness in your attempt. I and countless other nurses are placed in this very exact situation daily, especially in the ER. I've done it, many other nurses have done it. While you are prosecuting her for the patient in the scanner, her 4, 5, or 6 other patients with heart attacks, strokes, etc were waiting for her in their rooms. Doctors orders pile up, medications for stroke, heart attack meds, ordered. No one to give it but us, and someone asks us to run down to the scanner and "quickly give this med." By luck and grace we usually get away with this unscathed. However, by putting this woman in jail you are doing nothing. She will go to jail and the PEOPLE that direct this sort of behavior will continue to run their hospitals and receive bonus' larger than your yearly pay. They will continue to ask 21 and 22 year old kids to do this over and over. Threaten to take away their livelihood if they do not, and bully them until they finally give in, bypass the checks in place and do what is asked of them. Yes, put the weak ones in jail and the new ones will fall into the same pit. I don't want to make suggestions to you that are more than you can handle, but I want to ASSURE you, that this practice will continue long after you are gone with your chosen path. You want to provide justice? Prosecute along with her those who ordered her to do this. Why put the prostitute in jail and not the John? I'm sure if you even attempted to try and prosecute any administrator in the hospital, the powers that be would probably have your head and your job. But you would be honoring a system of justice. It wasn't her bright idea to give this med. She probably would have been charting, or sitting, or using the bathroom.
Instead someone told her to do this wrong. That same person, unscathed, will continue to order their subordinates to do so, with consequences if they do not. So good luck with this path of prosecuting caregivers for doing exactly what they are told. You are well within your rights of doing so, but to what end? If it's to jail some sad broken poor woman, you can easily do that. But if you are attempting to enact change, to right an error before it possibly happens to you then you are going about it completely wrong. If you constantly attack the minions and not the boss, you will get nowhere. Minions are minions, they can always be replaced; but you already knew that.

PET scan has no medication scanner, no scanner does - Check bypass #1, Scanners do not have appropriate equipment for a resuscitation which a code would require Check bypass #2 NO ONE in the ER waits for a pharmacist to verify meds EVER. That is an ER culture across the nation. BYPASS #3. I agree that she did make some errors. So she didn't have an assignment, you're right. But this practice of asking nurses to do this is a common practice. The fact that people aren't dying en masse of this is surprising actually because of all of these checks that are being bypassed. And more if I had more time to think about it. The reality is that nurses daily are bullied and pressured into NOT FOLLOWING THE RULES. As long as we continue to punish the minions and not those responsible for the orders we will never eradicate ourselves of this problem. What is the goal of jailing this woman? What is the goal? I'm sure we can find any reason to put her in jail, she's no angel, I'm sure. But if the goal is to rectify this issue of bypassing checks the responsibility needs to be pushed upwards. These administrators get to make so much money off of pushing us to do these things, why not share in the burden?

tiffanyselah · Feb 12, 2019

8 minutes ago, JadedCPN said:
Did you read any bit of the CMS report or do any actual research prior to writing this? I’m going to assume the answer is no based on this.
She admitted to being in the role of a “help all” nurse who does not have their own assignment and whose sole purpose is to help the other staff.

I responded already. She was the help-all. Doesn't explain asking a person to give a med in a scanner with no scanner for medications to check the right patient, right dose, no excuse for giving a patient a medication in a place with no appropriate monitors or resuscitation equipment, no excuse for constantly skipping pharmacy verification a NORMAL CONSTANT ER PROCESS. There is NO EXCUSE for pushing the responsibility solely on her. The administration can share in the consequences as well as the bonuses. period.