Radonda Vaught is charging $10,000 per speaking engagement.

[klone]

Or, $7,500 if you just want her virtually. Good to know that negligent homicide is such a lucrative endeavor. 
 

https://www.executivespeakers.com/speaker/radonda-vaught

[Wuzzie]

Jill Phemister said:

We should all consider how we condemn a fellow nurse and what that condemnation does to our shared profession.

If that condemnation forces every nurse out there to scrutinize their own practice then I believe it is a win for our vulnerable patients and our profession. 

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

Jill Phemister said:

Vanderbilt's actions were reprehensible, yes! This was a perfect storm. This is not to say that the nurse was not part of that storm and should not have suffered consequences- because she should, and we can agree to disagree on the fact that I believe her charges will change the profession of nursing irrevocably. However, other hospital facilities also removed checks and balance systems to prevent these mistakes. Should everyone involved with this error not be held accountable to some extent, with some being more severe than others, but accountable all the same? And what about the fact that she self-reported? Will this case make you think twice about reporting an error or mistake? I believe this sentence has damaged nursing in ways we should all fear, regardless of how one feels about the specific mistake, circumstance, or person. We should all consider how we condemn a fellow nurse and what that condemnation does to our shared profession.

A nurse who can't read the label on a drug before administering it can not be a nurse.  Some mistakes are crimes.  She went out of her way to kill Charlene Murphy.  I'm pretty sure that she wasn't drug tested and that was a huge mistake.  I have always thought she was stoned.  I can't come up an explanation of why a person would ignore anything she was ever taught about respecting the rules of drug administration unless she were stoned.  

[JKL33]

Jill Phemister said:

Sometimes, we all make stupid mistakes- we just have to pray that the consequences are not as devastating as hers. We also need to be careful about the punishments assigned to those errors-- this case set a scary precedent for nurses everywhere. We are all now capable of being convicted felons for our mistakes. This is a travesty for the nursing profession, where we hold patients' lives in our hands daily. So many other occupations do not have such life-threatening consequences. However, we can never be sure exactly how one mistake will affect a person's future. Your or my mistake can potentially begin a cascade of events that lead to a person's ultimate demise- it just might not be as immediate as the above-stated situation. All that to say, be careful about sitting in judgment of your fellow nurse. There was no intent to harm behind her mistake. It was simply that ... a mistake with tragic consequences.

This whole comment is way off base.

You need to think in terms of someone who runs a red light at 120 mph and while looking at their phone, who thoroughly runs clean over a pedestrian rightfully in a crosswalk, killing them.

Would that be the kind of thing you're referring to as a mistake? It meets the definition of mistake in the same way that RV's actions do, but is quite disingenuous to sum things up with that word. Do you think you're at risk of killing someone in this manner every time you get behind the wheel? Why or why not?

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

And what about the fact that she self-reported?

According to the TBI report she only self reported when another nurse found the vials and asked "Is this what you gave her." 

[klone, MSN, RN]

:headbanging

[subee, MSN, CRNA]

klone said:

:headbanging

Fear of ever being admitted to a hospital!  

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

Jill Phemister said:

Vanderbilt's actions were reprehensible, yes! This was a perfect storm.

Since when is Vanderbilt responsible for not reading the medication label.

This whole travesty could have been averted if RV had read the label, and seen she had vercunium not versed.

[Ms. Angela]

The hospital did this nurse so wrong. Yes, she should have called pharmacy to verify the medication, that was sent to be administered to  the patient, that was not a type med that is used in the department Rhonda worked. It was paralytic medication. There were a lot of hands involved. Least not forget the amount of bullying that goes on in nursing, I'm sure she felt afraid to speak up, and because of the medical error a patient lost their life. But don't be so quick to crucify her, this could have happened to anyone. She did not act in malice, and she should have received more support than what she was given. This is one of the ugliest scenarios/fall outs a nurse can ever experience, and I'm quite sure she felt alone during this ordeal. That's why it's so important to do due diligence because your license is on the line no matter what. This woman loss her Nursing license, how is she wrong for making an incoming informing other nurses about what she went through and how what happened to the patient could have been avoided? I'm sure anyone who has been in nursing long enough has experience an event where a patient received the wrong med, even though the patient did not die or have an negative outcome,upon discovery of the medication error, the panic and worry that nurses go through is very telling. Imagine taking care of a patient and that patient died because of an medication error. I'm sure this woman was terrified and was stressed out because of this situation. She went to trail, was found guilty, and had her license revoked. She still has to live. She has to share her experience with others so that this won't happen to another patient or another nurse. Nurses are thrown so quickly under the bus, when there's so many hands involved in each patients unique care.

[toomuchbaloney]

Ms. Angela said:

The hospital did this nurse so wrong. Yes, she should have called pharmacy to verify the medication, that was sent to be administered to  the patient, that was not a type med that is used in the department Rhonda worked. It was paralytic medication. There were a lot of hands involved. Least not forget the amount of bullying that goes on in nursing, I'm sure she felt afraid to speak up, and because of the medical error a patient lost their life. But don't be so quick to crucify her, this could have happened to anyone. She did not act in malice, and she should have received more support than what she was given. This is one of the ugliest scenarios/fall outs a nurse can ever experience, and I'm quite sure she felt alone during this ordeal. That's why it's so important to do due diligence because your license is on the line no matter what. This woman loss her Nursing license, how is she wrong for making an incoming informing other nurses about what she went through and how what happened to the patient could have been avoided? I'm sure anyone who has been in nursing long enough has experience an event where a patient received the wrong med, even though the patient did not die or have an negative outcome,upon discovery of the medication error, the panic and worry that nurses go through is very telling. Imagine taking care of a patient and that patient died because of an medication error. I'm sure this woman was terrified and was stressed out because of this situation. She went to trail, was found guilty, and had her license revoked. She still has to live. She has to share her experience with others so that this won't happen to another patient or another nurse. Nurses are thrown so quickly under the bus, when there's so many hands involved in each patients unique care.

No. 

If it's possible that this could happen to you then it's on you to improve your practice habits immediately, because they aren't safe.  

 

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Ms. Angela said:

Yes, she should have called pharmacy to verify the medication, that was sent to be administered to  the patient, that was not a type med that is used in the department Rhonda worked. It was paralytic medication

The medication wasn't sent by pharmacy. As a commonly used medication on the unit, both Versed and vecuronium were stocked in the unit's medication dispensing cabinet. Radonda herself testified that not only was she familiar with giving Versed, she stated in her BON hearing testimony that she had in fact given it the day before. As an ICU nurse, she should also be familiar with vecuronium.

Quote

 There were a lot of hands involved

No. Radonda removed the medication from the dispensing cabinet. Radonda gave the medication. Who else's hands were on it? No one, until another ICU nurse picked up the bag containing the syringe and vial and asked her if that was the medication she gave.

Quote

Least not forget the amount of bullying that goes on in nursing, I'm sure she felt afraid to speak up, and because of the medical error a patient lost their life. But don't be so quick to crucify her, this could have happened to anyone. She did not act in malice, and she should have received more support than what she was given. This is one of the ugliest scenarios/fall outs a nurse can ever experience, and I'm quite sure she felt alone during this ordeal.

Bullying has nothing to do with this situation. And quite frankly, all it would have taken is the 5 seconds to read the name on the vial. It will not happen to me, because I work in an area where barcode med admin is impossible. Not only do I read the label of the medication as I remove it from the Pyxis, I read it again before drawing it up, and I show it to my scrub person before I dispense it to the sterile field. This was not a simple error but a demonstration of absolute negligence and incompetence of the very basics of medication administration.

Quote

That's why it's so important to do due diligence because your license is on the line no matter what.

Checking the name of the medication on the vial is nursing 101. Radonda did not do this check... not even once. There was zero due diligence on her part.

Quote

how is she wrong for making an incoming informing other nurses about what she went through and how what happened to the patient could have been avoided?

Profiting off the death of another due to one's own lack of due diligence is despicable.

 

Please, please, please, read the source documents and not armchair quarterbacking from people who don't have the exact words from Radonda herself in the CMS and TBI documents and her own BON hearing testimony. For those who view this as "a med error", it should be eye opening and viewpoint changing.

Rose_Queen said:

For those who would like to see the primary sources:

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Report

CMS Report

Board of Nursing Hearing Day 1

Board of Nursing Hearing Day 2

From the CMS report:

Quote

 

#1 stated, "I was in a patient care role, I was the help-all nurse. A help-all nurse is a resource nurse and I had an Orientee" RN #1 stated that RN #2 had asked her to go downstairs to Radiology PET scan and administer the medication Versed to Patient #1 because the patient was not able to tolerate the PET scan procedure or they would have to send the patient back and reschedule it.

RN #1 stated he/she searched for the Versed under her profile in the ADC and he/she couldn't find it. The RN stated he/she then chose the override setting on the ADC and searched for the Versed.

RN #1 stated she was talking to the Orientee while he/she was searching the ADC for the Versed and had typed in the first 2 letters of Versed which are VE and chose the 1st medication on the list.

RN #1 stated he/she took out the medication vial out of the ADC, and looked at the back of the vial at the directions for how much to reconstitute it with. RN #1 verified he/she did not re-check the name on the vial RN #1 stated, "I reconstituted the medication and measured the amount I needed"

RN #1 stated he/she grabbed a sticker from the patient's file, a handful of flushes, alcohol swabs, a blunt tip needle. RN #1 stated he/she put the medication vial in a baggie and wrote on the baggie, "PET scan, Versed 1-2 mg" and went to Radiology to administer the medication to Patient #1...

...The RN stated Radiology Technician #1 was there at the time he/she administered the medication IV to Patient #1. RN #1 stated he/she left the Radiology PET scan area after he/she had administered the medication to Patient #1.

RN #1 was asked how much medication did he/she administer to Patient #1, and the RN stated, "I can't remember, I am pretty sure I gave [him/her] 1 milliliter.
RN #1 was asked what was done with any left over medication, and the RN stated, "I put the left over in the baggie and gave it to [Named RN #2]..."

RN #1 was asked what he/she did after administering the medication to Patient #1, and the RN stated he/she left Patient #1 in Radiology.

RN #1 confirmed that he/she did not monitor Patient #1 after the medication was administered.

 

From her own BON testimony 

Quote

 

  Anonymous865 said: 

In her testimony to the 2nd BON investigation, it sounds even worse.  

They asked when was the last time she had given Versed.  Radonda answered the day before the incident.

BON:  isn't Versed a controlled substance

Radonda: Yes

BON: Doesn't the ADC require you to count and confirm controlled substances?

Radonda: Yes.

BON:  When you pulled Vecuronium did you have to do a count?

Radonda: No

BON: Did that not raise a red flag for you?

Radonda: No

BON:  was the vial a different size and color from the versed vial from the day before?

Radonda: Yes

BON: Did that not raise a red flag for you?

Radonda: No

BON: When you gave Versed the day before did it have to be reconstituted?

Radonda:  No

BON:  When you saw it was a powder, did that not raise a red flag for you?

Radonda: No

BON:  Did you read the label to determine the concentration of the reconstituted powder

Radonda: No

BON:  How did you know how much to give

Radonda:  well when we give versed it is usually 1mg/ml

They also asked about her going to ED to do the swallow assessment.  It sounded like ED was next to radiology.  When she got to ED, her patient wasn't there.  

BON:  what did you do when you found the patient wasn't there?

Radonda:  went back to the neuro ICU and check with various nurses to see if they needed any help

BON:  why didn't you go back to check on your patient in radiology before returning to the unit?

Radonda:  uh 

There were so many opportunities for her to think wait something isn't right here.

 

 

[FiremedicMike, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

Ms. Angela said:

The hospital did this nurse so wrong. Yes, she should have called pharmacy to verify the medication, that was sent to be administered to  the patient, that was not a type med that is used in the department Rhonda worked. It was paralytic medication. There were a lot of hands involved. Least not forget the amount of bullying that goes on in nursing, I'm sure she felt afraid to speak up, and because of the medical error a patient lost their life. But don't be so quick to crucify her, this could have happened to anyone. She did not act in malice, and she should have received more support than what she was given. This is one of the ugliest scenarios/fall outs a nurse can ever experience, and I'm quite sure she felt alone during this ordeal. That's why it's so important to do due diligence because your license is on the line no matter what. This woman loss her Nursing license, how is she wrong for making an incoming informing other nurses about what she went through and how what happened to the patient could have been avoided? I'm sure anyone who has been in nursing long enough has experience an event where a patient received the wrong med, even though the patient did not die or have an negative outcome,upon discovery of the medication error, the panic and worry that nurses go through is very telling. Imagine taking care of a patient and that patient died because of an medication error. I'm sure this woman was terrified and was stressed out because of this situation. She went to trail, was found guilty, and had her license revoked. She still has to live. She has to share her experience with others so that this won't happen to another patient or another nurse. Nurses are thrown so quickly under the bus, when there's so many hands involved in each patients unique care.

Tell me you know nothing about this case without actually using the words "I know nothing about this case"..

oh look, you already did.

[FiremedicMike, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

At this point I'm seriously wondering if Vaught has posted in this very thread..