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?

[Anonymous865]

I think she is guilty of reckless homicide.

She acted in a way contrary to what a reasonable person with similar training and education would act.  No reasonable nurse would act in the careless manner she did.  This resulted in another's death.  That is the very definition of reckless homicide.

A drawbridge operator is facing the charge of manslaughter by culpable negligence in Florida.  It sounds like it is a similar charge to Tennnessee's reckless homicide charge.  It refers to causing another's death due to the omission to do something which a reasonably careful person would do, or the lack of the usual ordinary care and caution in the performance of an act usually and ordinarily exercised by a person under similar circumstances and conditions. 

In the Florida case the drawbridge operator closed the gates leading onto the bridge, sounded the warning, but did not walk out and make sure no one was on the bridge.  A woman walking her bike across the bridge fell to her death when the bridge opened while she was on it.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/18/us/florida-bridgetender-manslaughter-charge/index.html

I feel some sympathy for Radonda, but 99% of my sympathy goes to Charlene Murphy and her family.

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

The state board of nursing dropped the ball majorly. To look at that situation and determine that RV was a safe practitioner is unconscionable.  Perhaps if they had of done their job and ensured that RV could not keep on practicing it would not have progressed to criminal charges. 

And for anyone who may want to suggest mistakes were made and RV has already been made to face the consequences remember this

- RV bypassed a minimum of five safety checks. 

- Her patient died, being unable to breathe and was fully aware for the 3plus minutes it took her to die

 

I've said in the past that should RV ever want to work as a nurse she needs to undergo intensive remediation. I've changed my mind, I don't think she has shown sufficent awareness of the consequences of her actions. I don't think she should ever be allowed to work as a nurse 

[Wolf at the Door, BSN]

15 hours ago, Emergent said:

She sounds very entitled by her actions. Does she think a background check won't be done when she goes to buy a rifle? What a foolish, foolish woman. And claiming victimhood and blaming the hospital? I'm sorry, but the responsibility for this error falls squarely on her shoulders. She recklessly administered a dangerous drug and it killed a woman.

29 years of nursing experience and you only think she's playing victim and its not a system wide problem. If you only see it squarely falls on her shoulders after 29 years I am sad for you.  If she is found guilty this profession will further be in the toilet.

Yes, Vecuronium has to be reconstituted but if she injected a flush thinking she withdrew just a diluted med she was unaware of the powder.  I wonder if that nurse had a break that day or ever at the hospital. TN should consider safe staffing and breaks to stop fatigue and burnout. Vanderbilt nurses have to clean their own rooms after the patient is D/C. They make under 30 an hour to do the job of two professions. Why does the hospital tell nurses to override meds as part of the culture?... well its because they short staff Pharmacy. Let's save money and if it cost us 2-3 lives a year we still save more than the payout of a lawsuit. 

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

14 minutes ago, Wolf at the Door said:

29 years of nursing experience and you only think she's playing victim and its not a system wide problem. If you only see it squarely falls on her shoulders after 29 years I am sad for you.  If she is found guilty this profession will further be in the toilet.

Yes, Vecuronium has to be reconstituted but if she injected a flush thinking she withdrew just a diluted med she was unaware of the powder.  I wonder if that nurse had a break that day or ever at the hospital. TN should consider safe staffing and breaks to stop fatigue and burnout. Vanderbilt nurses have to clean their own rooms after the patient is D/C. They make under 30 an hour to do the job of two professions. Why does the hospital tell nurses to override meds as part of the culture?... well its because they short staff Pharmacy. Let's save money and if it cost us 2-3 lives a year we still save more than the payout of a lawsuit. 

The patient died slowly, aware of the fact that she was suffocating and she was alone. 

You can come up with all the 'should of, could of, would ofs' you like. they do not change the facts and the fact that the nurse should be accountable for her actions. 

In my 10 years as a nurse I have endured some complete cluster muck in terms of staffing. Do you know how many patients I've killed in that time?

Absolutely none. 

 

[Wolf at the Door, BSN]

Just now, Tenebrae said:

The patient died slowly, aware of the fact that she was suffocating and she was alone. 

You can come up with all the 'should of, could of, would ofs' you like. they do not change the facts and the fact that the nurse should be accountable for her actions. 

In my 10 years as a nurse I have endured some complete cluster muck in terms of staffing. Do you know how many patients I've killed in that time?

Absolutely none. 

 

How many years of Critical care have you worked? It is an entirely different stress. 

[Anonymous865]

1 hour ago, Wolf at the Door said:

29 years of nursing experience and you only think she's playing victim and its not a system wide problem. If you only see it squarely falls on her shoulders after 29 years I am sad for you.  If she is found guilty this profession will further be in the toilet.

Yes, Vecuronium has to be reconstituted but if she injected a flush thinking she withdrew just a diluted med she was unaware of the powder.  I wonder if that nurse had a break that day or ever at the hospital. TN should consider safe staffing and breaks to stop fatigue and burnout. Vanderbilt nurses have to clean their own rooms after the patient is D/C. They make under 30 an hour to do the job of two professions. Why does the hospital tell nurses to override meds as part of the culture?... well its because they short staff Pharmacy. Let's save money and if it cost us 2-3 lives a year we still save more than the payout of a lawsuit. 

She told the TBI that she thought it was weird when the vial contained a powder, because Versed was a liquid.  She took the time to read how to reconstitute the med, but didn't bother to read what med she pulled.

She was the "help all nurse."  The help all nurse doesn't have a patient assignment.  The role is to act as an extra set of eyes, ears, hands, and brain for the nurses with an assignment as well as covering for other nurses, so that every nurse got their breaks and meals.

The TBI asked if she was really busy or stressed that day.  She said no.  They asked if she was really tired.  She said no.  She was on her 2nd day after 7 days off.

The pharmacy was apparently not short staffed that day either.  Per the ADC report the order was entered at 2:47 pm, verified by pharmacy at 2:49 pm.  She pulled vecuronium at 2:59 pm a full 10 minutes after versed had been verified.

 

[Wuzzie]

5 hours ago, Wolf at the Door said:

How many years of Critical care have you worked? It is an entirely different stress. 

Do you look at the vial to make sure you’re drawing up the correct med prior to administering it? Yes? Then you likely won’t kill a patient. Too bad RV doesn’t practice nursing like you do because that is literally all she would have needed to do. 
 

Before you challenge me, yes, I have decades of critical care experience including flight nursing. What’s more my experience is in pediatric CC  so proper dosing was even more exact. 

[Emergent, RN]

5 hours ago, Wolf at the Door said:

29 years of nursing experience and you only think she's playing victim and its not a system wide problem. If you only see it squarely falls on her shoulders after 29 years I am sad for you.  

I have noticed at this forum that 'I am sad for you' is similar to the phrase 'bless your heart' or 'I will be praying for you'. ? In other words,  code for something else ?

[FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN]

22 hours ago, Wuzzie said:

She's not being charged with murder which would be over the top. She definitely fits the definition of what she's being charged with...reckless homicide. She was reckless and somebody died. 

It doesn’t fit the definition at all. She was working. She wasn’t drag racing, making a tik tok, etc. She was trying to do her job. She was incompetent, not reckless. 

And it is of no consequence at all whether she is a quality person.

[Emergent, RN]

1 hour ago, FolksBtrippin said:

It doesn’t fit the definition at all. She was working. She wasn’t drag racing, making a tik tok, etc. She was trying to do her job. She was incompetent, not reckless. 

And it is of no consequence at all whether she is a quality person.

I think she is probably temperamentally unsuited for nursing. She has a very impulsive personality, short attention span, and has gotten by on her bubbly personality her whole life. What she did was reckless, but probably not in her mind because that's how she's glided through life. I think as evidenced by her trying to obtain a high-powered rifle and lying on the form but she's got something missing in her brain.

[tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN]

In today's session, a nurse with 47 years of nursing experience is testifying re. Vaught's failure to meet the Standards of Care.  She is doing an excellent job explaining every detail of what was done and what she failed to do.  She even demonstrated how to properly pull up the drug, the checks that must be done, etc.

It should be very clear to the jury.

[LPN Retired, LPN]

7 hours ago, Anonymous865 said:

She told the TBI that she thought it was weird when the vial contained a powder, because Versed was a liquid.  She took the time to read how to reconstitute the med, but didn't bother to read what med she pulled.

She was the "help all nurse."  The help all nurse doesn't have a patient assignment.  The role is to act as an extra set of eyes, ears, hands, and brain for the nurses with an assignment as well as covering for other nurses, so that every nurse got their breaks and meals.

The TBI asked if she was really busy or stressed that day.  She said no.  They asked if she was really tired.  She said no.  She was on her 2nd day after 7 days off.

The pharmacy was apparently not short staffed that day either.  Per the ADC report the order was entered at 2:47 pm, verified by pharmacy at 2:49 pm.  She pulled vecuronium at 2:59 pm a full 10 minutes after versed had been verified.

 

I wonder why such a dangerous drug was even in the accumed cart . seems like that should only be accessible thru the actual pharmacy in the instance it is going to be administered by an anesthesiologist. 

I read she was on the deans list in college . she must have been very booksmart but no real commonsense .