Radonda Vaught Sentenced

Hundreds of nurses are waiting outside the courthouse in support of Radonda Vaught.  She will be labeled as a convicted felon for the rest of her life. 

Updated:  

Radonda Vaught Sentenced

The sentencing is scheduled for Friday, 9:00 AM Central Time. 

Vaught is set to be sentenced on her convictions in Davidson County Criminal Court on Friday by Judge Jennifer Smith. 

What do you think the sentencing will/should be?  Do you think she should receive jail time?

Quote

"Her charges carry possible penalties of up to eight years in prison. The neglect charge could include from three to six years, the homicide one to two years incarceration. 

Smith will set the sentence, bound by guidelines in state law, and will decide whether it includes jail time and whether the sentences run concurrently or consecutively."

RaDonda Vaught sentencing: 5 things to know

For live coverage, go to:

UPDATE

The Judge announced the sentence:

Judicial Diversion and Supervised probation for 3 years.  Will reassess after completion of probationary period.

No prison time.

Judicial Diversion

"Judicial Diversion in TN is a method by which many first-time offenders can have the opportunity to ultimately have their conviction dismissed following a successful probationary period, thereby preserving a clean record and giving them the opportunity to have it expunged, or completely removed, from their criminal history."

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tnbutterfly - Mary

About tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.

She shouldn't be in jail. This shouldn't have gone to trial. She should have just had her license revoked, but prison? We have cops killing innocent people (ON PURPOSE) not see a day in court but a nurse makes a mistake and she is facing several years in prison?

 

BS

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I think this absolutely should have gone to trial. We should be held to the same standards as anyone else who acts recklessly and knows better. That being said I do not believe prison time for this would serve any purpose. Given her subsequent poor choices I believe RV is her own worst enemy. 

This "but cops get away with it" doesn't wash with me. They should be held responsible for their actions too and, fortunately, that tide is turning. Mistakes are one thing...utterly ignoring your training (both nurses and cops) is an entirely different matter. 

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

The outcome that needed to happen is that she can no longer practice as a nurse. That was accomplished by the BON (eventually). As for the sentencing, I will leave that to those who are responsible for upholding TN law. I do believe this goes far beyond your run of the mill med error and into something much bigger and concerning. I can see where charges were warranted. 

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
23 minutes ago, Wuzzie said:

I think this absolutely should have gone to trial. We should be held to the same standards as anyone else who acts recklessly and knows better. That being said I do not believe prison time for this would serve any purpose. Given her subsequent poor choices I believe RV is her own worst enemy. 

This "but cops get away with it" doesn't wash with me. They should be held responsible for their actions too and, fortunately, that tide is turning. Mistakes are one thing...utterly ignoring your training (both nurses and cops) is an entirely different matter. 

Difference between her and many of these citizen killings cops is intent.

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3 minutes ago, ThePrincessBride said:

Difference between her and many of these citizen killings cops is intent.

Which is why she wasn't charged with murder. 

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Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

The sentencing will be announced in about 5 minutes or so after they come back from their break.

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Specializes in Peds, Med-Surg, Disaster Nsg, Parish Nsg.

Judicial Diversion and Supervised probation for 3 years.  Will reassess after completion of probationary period.

No prison time.

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Terrific. I think that is exactly the right sentence to be meted out. I would have been uncomfortable with jail even with my stance on her conviction. 

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
3 hours ago, Wuzzie said:

Terrific. I think that is exactly the right sentence to be meted out. I would have been uncomfortable with jail even with my stance on her conviction. 

But that was a risk with charging her in the first place. And now she has a criminal record. 

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1 hour ago, ThePrincessBride said:

But that was a risk with charging her in the first place. And now she has a criminal record. 

Yes, and now she can’t petition to get her license back which I have no doubt the TBON would have granted since they didn’t act until this became public and they looked incompetent. 
From the beginning I was certain she would never go to jail because of the lack of intent but she still needed to answer to the public for her actions. Sadly I’m not convinced she has learned much from this given her subsequent poor decision making incident. 

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Specializes in ER.

Boards of Nursing need to take swift action, that would have made all this go away and she would have never been a nurse again. She didn't have the right temperament for nursing. She was a highly distractible woman, and not very careful obviously.

As evidenced by her subsequent behaviors regarding a gun purchase, the woman had some brain stuff going on. I don't know what was off with her about something is obviously very wrong. She just wasn't cut out for nursing.

The reason that people are rallying around her is because we all understand how impossible the hospital environment has become, even for careful, conscientious people, let alonea loose cannon like RaDonda.

Meanwhile, Boards of Nursing are denying licenses over unpaid student loans, but act as if they are in the horse-and-buggy era when it comes to real problems that might cause unsafe practice by nursing.

 

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