Crow31

OMG, I guess I it's my fault for mentioning her in my post. Oh, well people can't see the big picture of what's happening and that's not my fault. ?‍♀️

This is my last time I comment about this case. These kinds of incidents come to find out are not that uncommon and so she isn't as much of an outlier as you might think. So... if you can't understand what that means don't bother reading further. The legal jargon is a waste of breath and time because we don't have a say and will never have a say. Just know that any fatal med errors can (and now with the publicity of this case) will more than likely result in criminal charges. How you feel about that doesn't matter. I have been and more than ever now after reading articles about this case and the comments more frustrated with how people are focused on the wrong things. For me, personally, I'm not surprised something like this happened. And guess what? Because everyone wants to focus on the wrong things, this kind of thing is going to keep happening even as I type. Here's why I'm not surprised. I have had my suspicions about how nurses were being used ever since I came out of nursing school. For instance, I thought ICU nurses were for the experienced nurses or for the new nurses that were exceptional in school and came with high recommendation from there professors or something. Come to find out that wasn't the case and so was kind of confused by that because I was new to the system. Instead, I come to find that nurses are not treated on a professional level. Why do I say that? Because nurses are treated all the same. Reguardless of experience, education, we all have the same degree and passed the same the test so we must all be the same right? Well, obviously not. How many people have to die before that is recognized? Who thought a help nurse was a great idea? Who thought that a nurse with no ICU/ER experience or training can hop around unit to unit? The system, just needing a warm body is who. Someone who can practice the fundamentals of nursing correctly. Here's the thing that I find insulting, we aren't just a bunch of task performing robots. This is why I am insulted as a professional. There is critical thinking and knowledge in what we do and needs to be treated as such. If that were the case, a "help nurse" idea wouldn't even exist. For instance, ever heard of a "help doctor" that goes from unit to unit performing tasks and orders for doctors who need help? We all really know that what would had prevented this death is if the nurse or her orientee would had known what verded/vec was. There are a slew of other things that happened of course, but that's the bottom line. I could even argue to say the reason why she was reckless was because she received praise from her coworkers for being fast and accomplishing so many tasks for them. Therefore, further induced her task orientated practice, which included cutting corners, making her the reckless nurse she was. The point is the culture of treating nurses as a bunch of task robots is dangerous and insulting. My only suggestion right now is to make nurses more specialized and maybe a residency? But no one really wants to do that because the flexibility of nursing is part of the reason nursing is appealing to some. The next part will make me sound like a granny. Listen, I haven't been a nurse for long, but dang has it changed! We can't school these potential nurses into just taking a test! There is so much more to nursing than that. I promise you the school I went to was super tough. They were not playing around. I don't get that vibe anymore. I see students in the corner chit chatting it up or on their phones instead of looking up medications they are going to be quizzed on or the care plans of their patients. I don't hear the instructors quizzing the students or asking how they can do things better. These are not just isolated cases I'm talking about I promise. Then when I ask my fellow co-workers what school they go to and they tell me the school and talk about how great a school it is. They make comment like "Yeah, that school has like a 97% passing the NCLEX" I'll stop here because I'm sure I'm just wasting my breath, but ya'll the system is broke and been broke. Medicine is high paced and requires competent, confident highly specialized kind nurses. This doesn't prevent all med errors and errors in general because literally our brain can only process so much in so much time before mistakes happen. But these kind of med errors can be prevented and I'm obviously not just talking about the 5 rights. It's a whole culture change, a system change that needs to be addressed. Again, this isn't me for or against her and what she did. If you think that's what this post is about you are missing the point.

Thanks for the input. I needed to know the difference between reckless homicide and negligent homicide. ?

Hey, is this right that the family didn’t know about the actual cause of death until a year later? Does anyone know if hospital administration overseeing the medication error or the physician overseeing her care are getting criminally charged for withholding the medication error from the family? Isn’t that part of a safety report? Aren’t you supposed to inform the pt or in this case the family of any error made? I feel that has to be criminal in some way. I know if that was my mom I would not appreciate that.

Look at the article Juan de la cruz replied to me about med errors of inattentional-blindness. If that's a thing, then crud. The only thing I can think of is that certain medications for sure need hard stops and a second RN.

Thanks again for sharing. I wonder if anyone will bring inattentional-blindness into the courtroom. Super scary even for those who are being careful. I see more why certain medications need that second nurse and maybe my suggestion of a hard stop? ?

That's awesome and hard work too. I wonder if you aren't on something there about a possible downside of all the technology. Maybe it takes some of the thinking out of medication administration? Especially when you are trying to cut corners when you're busy. I mean you could just scan and go(disregarding pop ups because those happen all the time) which is convenient, but maybe too much? Hmm... I'll have to think about that.

Woah, wait! I was trying to prevent unintentional med errors. If someone wants a medication like a paralytic with the intent of harm well there isn't a whole lot you can do especially if they work in a unit that has access. By the way that person should definitely be charged with the charges this woman has been and worse.

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. In a way all med errors are "reckless" not just the ones that end in death. Trust me, this is a huge wake up call for me. I no longer work in an area that this magnitude of a med error could occur. I have no access to paralytics, but I have worked in areas where I could see this happen again to someone else especially in the ER. Probably already has and that's why we have pop ups of look like/sound a like drugs and why the vials usually have paralytic written on them. I know we all work hard and would hate to see someone go to prison based on criminal charges for their malpractice mistake.

To answer the question the article originally was asking, I would suggest maybe a specific override code for paralytic medications. In hopes this may decrease the human error chance a bit because we all know that alarm fatigue is a real thing. (where my Critical Care nurses at?) 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.

Thank you for sharing. This is a bit more helpful. I guess to know this kind of case isn't the first time kind of puts my decision into perspective. I've worked in all kinds of areas. Including an ER where medications were not scanned. Right now I work at a place were something of this magnitude couldn't happen, but I would rather not work here for the rest of my life. I'll be transitioning out of nursing. Thanks again for your response.

You're completing missing the point. Think about it. This isn't about her. This is about the charges brought against her. When you make your first med error let me know how you think about what she did. You'll learn all medication errors are made in similar fashions.

OH MY GOSH THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His second video has been my whole point all along. Reading this responses and the responses people had to my comments was frustrating and depressing. Reading the comments I could see that nurses were not getting the magnitude of this situation. THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Thank you for your response. I appreciate the definition of reckless homicide. Really does scare me though because really all medication errors could fit in that definition if they lead to death. Just a side note though, I was told by coworkers that malpractice insurance wouldn't help in this situation because these are not civil charges of malpractice, but criminal charges. (SO SCAREY) She is at the mercy of the court now. I do hope this judge understands that given the details we know of the situation, does intend to charge her and sentences her to prison there will be dire consequences for sure not only in nursing, but medicine in general. If this woman is sentenced to prison for a fatal medication error I want this case to be taught in nursing school. You're right nursing isn't for the faint of heart and in some ways we are the "soldiers" of medicine. Teachers will have to start saying "I look at you all today and know all of you will do great things. All of you will make mistakes and learn and some of you will go to prison." I wish someone had told me that was a possibility because I would had said "Wait, what? Umm... I gotta go." ? I am one of those "faint of heart" you speak of I assume then. I want to help people and God forbid ever hurt anyone, but I'm not as so sacrificial as to give up my life in prison for this profession. I'm out! I wish people would more understand this is more than "Oh, that will never be me." or even "I think this is wrong and I feel bad for her." These charges are insulting to nursing and especially if followed through ever will change nursing/medicine as we know it.

I've been thinking more about this. Can anyone tell me why this is a criminal charge instead of malpractice? Is there more to this than just a medication error leading to death? Was she intentional in trying to hurt this person or something else that may explain the criminal aspect?

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!

Even you say negligence not reckless homicide. I think that is what shocks most people. That a med error which leads to death and this could be you.

Thank you. I was curious to see how all this went down. I guess in the end it doesn't matter.

Look I appreciate the question of basically asking how could we prevent this from happening again? An important question that needs to be asked to hopefully narrowing the percentage of lethal errors occurring. Listen though, the most important part of the equation is the human element. You can't get rid of it! No one is above it and I mean no one. Trust me when I say I'm not defending what she did was wrong, but what I am saying is that she is a statistic. A small percentage I'm sure, but still a statistic. I recognize that there is still a chance that could had or could be me and having that knowledge humbles me. I will definitely be trying to learn from example. Ok my fellow nurses, this is why I am going to try my darnest to get out of this profession as soon as I can. I know my intention is to help people not to hurt people. I always said if there ever came a day that if I accidently hurt someone there would be no necessity to fire me because I would quit nursing all together. Alright, but these charges of homicide? What?! Never in my wildest dreams would I think I could go to jail with the intention of helping others. I can't wrap my head around this and quite frankly I don't ever won't to have the chance. Self sacrificing compassion is honorable, but not worth the jail time. I've got to get out as soon as possible. I know the percentage has to be small, but still there that I could one day be in a jail cell just like her.

Thank you!! Someone gets it!!

How was the District Attorney notified?

Question, who brought these charges against her?

Goodness, I can't get over this nurse is going to jail. You all really think about that. May be your next shift you could be in her shoes. ?

Yikes. ?

I sure hope you're just trolling Wuzzie and don't really think you're above this woman's mistake. Yikes!