Anonymous865

What you are saying is that medical professionals should not be subject to the same laws that govern every other person in the US. The purpose of professional boards is to define the professional standards that members of that profession must adhere to. They were never intended to exempt members from the state and federal laws and make them only accountable to the professional board. If you don't like the reckless homicide law, you can try to repeal it, but as long as there is a reckless homicide law, it should apply to everyone in exactly the same manner.

I know physicians who have sent loved ones to Vanderbilt when they thought they needed care that couldn't be provided in the patient's community. On the other hand I wouldn't go to Vanderbilt, but I wouldn't go to any academic medical center. I don't think care from residents and students are in my best interest as a patient. Both of those are opinions not evidence. Unfortunately we can't get real data, because the medical community has convinced congress that incident reports are proprietary information so hospitals don't have to reveal this information. I think that all healthcare organizations should have to report every near miss and every mistake to a national database, so that they can be studied. By law every single cancer diagnosis gets reported to a state database and that information gets uploaded to a national database. The patient's name, address, ssn, diagnosis, occupation, marital status, treatment, health history, etc. is shared so that researchers all over the world can use the data for research. Because of pressure from the medical community, congress weighed the right of a patient for medical privacy against the best interest of society and decided that cancer patients don't get privacy. Why should hospitals have more privacy than the patients they care for? The only way to improve care is to study it, but that is not likely to happen and hospitals all over the country will continue to conceal their flaws.

You keep arguing that the environment and staffing are to blame. You assert that she wasn't experienced enough to be in the helper role. The only evidence you present to support your argument is that everywhere you have worked nurses are so overworked as to present a danger to the patients. The evidence that I have found includes: Vanderbilt is licensed for 832 beds and has 4400 nurses. That is a very good ratio. US News and World Reports reports how hospitals compare nationally. They report the nurse to patient ratio for hospitals as very low, low, average, high, or very high for how they compare to other hospitals nationally, Higher is better. They report that the nurse to patient ratio at Vanderbilt is VERY HIGH. The nurse to patient ratio in critical care is 1:1-2. You argue that she was inexperienced. Per Vanderbilt's job application website - any nurse with < 6 months experience must apply for and be accepted into their nurse externship program. The program is 1 year long and includes classroom, lab, and preceptor training. They have 3 cohorts per year. That sounds like a lot more training than most new grads get in their 1st job. Vanderbilt's employee website says that nurses interested in becoming a preceptor must complete training on how to be an effective preceptor. If you look at their class schedule, the preceptor workshops are scheduled at least once a month. That certainly sounds better than what most hospitals do - "Hey. You're precepting today." I definitely think Vanderbilt handled this whole thing incorrectly. It appears they covered it up to protect their reputation. I don't see any objective evidence Vanderbilt is dangerously understaffed and that they are putting unqualified nurses in the role of resource nurse. RV's lawyer may argue that at trial. S/he would have access to data that we don't. S/he might be able to get employees to testify to that. If you have objective evidence that Vanderbilt (not most hospitals) created an environment that contributed to this death, I would be very interested. I have looked. What I have found that is publicly available does not support your argument.

One of the people charged was a nurse practitioner. The nurse practitioner and the ADON were the people with the most serious of the charges. I would assume that the nurse practitioner was the "Doctor" who was "paid a nice salary to oversee these patients." The corporation that owned the facility was fined nearly $100,000.

I am not sure how to feel about the BON. The law directs the BON to meet quarterly, so meeting in Nov and then in Feb follows the law. On the other hand the law permits the BON to meet in special sessions if something requires their immediate attention, so they could have met earlier. The board has an obligation to protect the public. The board also has an obligation to properly investigate a charge and allow a nurse to present her case before deciding to sanction, suspend, or revoke a license. The question is was this nurse so great a threat to the public that the board should have suspended her license pending an investigation? What I find particularly disturbing is that they didn't immediately suspend her license when criminal charges were brought.

You're welcome. I agree with you. If you read some of their monthly disciplinary action reports, it looks like they are fair to the nurse while protecting the public from unsafe practitioners.

I'm not sure the BON gave her a pass. If Vanderbilt never told them, then they would have learned about it in November when the newspaper reported that the DA had decided to charge her. The board didn't meet in Dec. or Jan. The first time they would have met since the DA charged her would have been Feb 13 & 14. The meeting minutes from their Feb meeting are not online yet. If they did take action in their Feb meeting, I don't know how long it would take to update the licensure database. We'll have to wait until the Feb meeting minutes are published to see if they take any action. The BON could also have known about it and not taken action and now that the DA has filed charges decide to act.

Interesting you should use the example of the licensed electrician - an electrician was charged with reckless homicide because he didn't properly ground a bumper car ride and a child was shocked and died. https://www.ecmweb.com/contractor/man-convicted-amusement-park-electrocution

In Tennessee the board can file the complaint themselves. Any person may prefer charges against a nurse for violation of any grounds of discipline mentioned in § 63-7-115. The charges shall be in writing and submitted to the board unless they originate with the board or a member thereof.

No one knows. Tennessee like most states does not publish complaints if the board decides to dismiss the complaint. Vanderbilt could have reported it. Then the board could have investigated it and decided not to take any action. The complaint would not be public. If Vanderbilt did report it when the incident occurred, the BON would have had to act by now. Per Tennessee law regarding the Board of Nursing: https://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/2010/title-63/chapter-7/part-1/63-7-116/ (a) Any person may prefer charges against a nurse for violation of any grounds of discipline mentioned in § 63-7-115. The charges shall be in writing and submitted to the board unless they originate with the board or a member thereof. (b) Unless the charges are dismissed without a hearing by the board as unfounded or not warranting further investigation, the board shall, within ninety (90) days from the date on which the charges are preferred, set a time, date and place for a hearing on the charges. The date set for the hearing shall not be more than six (6) months from the date on which the charges are preferred. The BON publishes their meeting minutes. The minutes include the names of nurses charged, case presented by the nurse/lawyer, recommendation of a committee on what action to take, and the action taken by the board. https://www.tn.gov/health/health-program-areas/health-professional-boards/nursing-board/nursing-board/meeting-minutes.html There is no mention of Radonda Vaught in the BON meeting minutes. If you read some of their disciplinary action reports, you see other cases where they sanctioned a nurse and required him/her to complete continuing education on safe medication administration, or proper nursing documentation, or patient safety, etc. https://www.tn.gov/content/tn/health/health-professionals/health-professionals-boards-disciplinary-actions.html The BON has not taken any disciplinary action against RV. You can see that here. https://apps.health.tn.gov/Licensure/default.aspx If they had taken action there would be a link on her license to a report detailing the charges and actions taken by the board. I find it hard to believe that the BON would have reviewed this nurse's actions and not even required some continuing education on safe medication administration.

My mother passed away last January. Mom had talked with us extensively about what she would and would not want. Whenever a difficult case was in the news, mom talked about what she would want if that were her. Mom had a lawyer complete a living will. She gave Medical Power of Attorney to her children and her husband. We still had a difficult time with the medical staff particularly a palliative care NP. If mom hadn't raised a hoard of strong, assertive children, we might have been badgered into doing what the medical staff wanted instead of what mom wanted.