Radonda Vaught Trial

[tnbutterfly - Mary]

"Fourteen Nashvillians were chosen Monday, March 21, 2022 to sit as a jury in the case of RaDonda Vaught, a former Vanderbilt University Medical Center nurse charged in the death of a patient. She faces charges of reckless homicide and impaired adult abuse in the 2017 death of Charlene Murphey."

For more on this story, see

Jury chosen in homicide trial of ex-Vanderbilt nurse RaDonda Vaught after fatal drug error

RaDonda Vaught’s Arraignment - Guilty or Not of Reckless Homicide and Patient Abuse?

Tennessee Nurse RaDonda Vaught - Legal Perspectives of Fatal Medication Error

What do you think the verdict should/will be?

[klone, MSN, RN]

I sense a pattern...

[Wuzzie]

I got a warning when a friend posted a picture of a giant spider and asked what we would do if we found it in our house. I said "open the door, throw in some gasoline and burn it down".  I was talking about my own house. Jeesh! I think I'm still on probation. ?

 

[Emergent, RN]

1 hour ago, Hoosier_RN said:

I know you asked klone this, but I recently was out for 14 days for responding to my cousin by saying "do you want me to round house you in the face?" with ??? after the comment. She had asked me if I wanted to go to kickboxing with her. I haven't done kickboxing in about 5 years. TPTB at fb decided I was inciting violence ?

Wow, it must be some word scanning program. I must be pretty tame, I've never had any timeouts.

 

[sideshowstarlet, BSN, RN]

13 hours ago, mmc51264 said:

She also stated that she had not administered Versed before that day, but was shown to have administered it to a different patient the previous day. 

I didn't hear this before. ? Maybe she meant to administer Valium to the patient she was found to have given Versed to and neither she nor anyone at Vanderbilt realized the error. ?

 

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Another nurse who faced charges of involuntary manslaughter (pled to lesser charges) after a patient’s death. Where is the outcry and fears of this becoming commonplace?

Nurse pleads guilty in fatal fall of McMaster’s father

[MunoRN, RN]

1 hour ago, Rose_Queen said:

Another nurse who faced charges of involuntary manslaughter (pled to lesser charges) after a patient’s death. Where is the outcry and fears of this becoming commonplace?

Nurse pleads guilty in fatal fall of McMaster’s father

Because that's failure-to-rescue, punishing acts that are failure-to-rescue discourages failure-to-rescue, the charges against Vaught on the other hand encourages failure-to-rescue. 

And again, while I get the schadenfreudian enjoyment of the torches-and-pitchforks response to Vaught's practice, I don't agree it's enjoyable enough to be able to say that harm that can result from it is worthwhile.

If Vaught had given the Vecuronium, immediately realized her error but decided not to notify anyone hoping she could avoid getting in trouble then that would be clearly criminal failure-to-rescue.

That the thing about medication errors, in most cases the harm can be at least mitigated, if not completely avoided so long as the person who made the error recognizes and informs the appropriate the people, something they are less likely to do if that automatically makes them guilty of reckless endangerment, which in some states is a felony and in addition to possible jail time also probably loss of license.

Lets say someone gives the metoprolol for the patient in bed 1 to the patient in bed 2.  They realize their error but figure bed 2 has been running tachycardic and hypertensive anyway, so likely no harm done.  Then the next day the patient in bed 1 spikes their BP and HR so they double the metoprolol dose, not knowing they missed yesterday's dose, and then various complications arise from that.  That's an easily avoidable harm if the nurse isn't having to decide between what they may perceive as a low risk of harm and automatic criminal charges.

[Susie2310]

 

I want to believe that most nurses don't practice at a grossly negligent/criminally negligent level.  However, where this pattern of behavior is established after proper objective investigation with supporting evidence, I find it reasonable and appropriate that nurses should face charges given that nurses have a duty of care to their patients. Other licensed professionals face charges when they breach the duty of care they owe to the public in their particular field:  We read about airline pilots, policemen/women, air traffic controllers, surgeons, electricians, and other licensed professionals, facing criminal charges when they breach their duty of care to the public with resulting harm.

The charges serve a number of purposes in my view:  Bringing accountability; removing a person who is not practicing in a reasonable and prudent manner from being able to harm the public; as a deterrent to others who would engage in similar behavior; as an alert to the public of what is happening; as a warning to the industry the person practices in; and, if the person is convicted, as a punishment and stern warning for the future; and, for persons who are harmed by the licensed person's failure to practice as a reasonable, prudent, person, a measure of justice and accountability.

I believe that investigation into facility practices is also necessary in determining accountability, and that facilities should be held accountable for their shortcomings, but, in my view, speaking in regard to what I know about nursing law in my state, my understanding is that nurses are clearly held accountable for practicing as a prudent, reasonable nurse who provides competent, knowledgeable care, and are also held accountable for being aware of the laws/regulations/scope of practice that governs their practice.  These are things I was taught in nursing school.

 

[sistrmoon, BSN, RN]

1 hour ago, MunoRN said:

That the thing about medication errors, in most cases the harm can be at least mitigated, if not completely avoided so long as the person who made the error recognizes and informs the appropriate the people, something they are less likely to do if that automatically makes them guilty of reckless endangerment, which in some states is a felony and in addition to possible jail time also probably loss of license.

And one way to rescue this patient, even before the Med error was known, would be to monitor the patient appropriately after giving an IV sedative, given her age and condition. 

[Wuzzie]

1 hour ago, MunoRN said:

And again, while I get the schadenfreudian enjoyment of the torches-and-pitchforks response to Vaught's practice, I don't agree it's enjoyable enough to be able to say that harm that can result from it is worthwhile.

That’s really beneath you Muno. I don’t think anybody is enjoying this including myself. I don’t have a torch or a pitchfork but I do have a desire to not be associated with or represented by the likes of Radonda Vaught. I stand with nurses like Alex Wubbels and the Katrina nurses. I stand with the nurses who do their jobs with integrity and attention to detail despite their circumstances. 

[Emergent, RN]

Now, THAT is ridiculous! How terrible for that truly overworked nurse.

[JKL33]

2 hours ago, MunoRN said:

And again, while I get the schadenfreudian enjoyment of the torches-and-pitchforks response to Vaught's practice,

? Nope. I try to keep that sort of thing to a minimum in my life as it doesn't do anyone any good, especially the one who harbors the feeling.

Besides, if I'm gonna use energy delighting in others' misfortune you can be sure it'll involve the people who have been busy driving the healthcare train off the tracks. If any of them get their ability to be involved in healthcare taken away, yes, I will be delighted.

This isn't that, and you know it.

[Mommavik, ADN]

From what I'm reading about this case,  the nurse in question falsified the record to show that she checked on a patient's neurological and vital signs frequently as ordered after a patient fall when in fact she did not check on this patient at all! This shows that she knew that 1) it was important that this patient be checked frequently.  2) She apparently did not care that  the patient died and could possibly have been saved if she had done the checks that she falsely claimed she had done.  No excuses for this. Not something that any ethical and conscientious nurse could accept as something that would NOT require prosecution.