RaDonda Vaught Update - State Health Officials Reverse Decision and File Medical Disciplinary Charges

[Cowboyardee]

Best I can tell, professional discipline from the state board of nursing up to and including loss of her license is the most appropriate response to her error.

Criminal charges were and still are overkill in response to a professional mistake/incompetence without malice or any obvious callousness. Criminal charges also seem suspiciously like an effort to divert all responsibility and accountability for systemic errors that put a clearly incompetent nurse in that position in the first place onto the shoulders of said incompetent nurse.

[tnbutterfly - Mary, BSN]

Thanks so much for your input, @Cowboyardee

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

When this story first broke, I was shocked by the charges and also by the lack of professional discipline. However, after reading the CMS report, I leave it to the jury to decide. Saying everything is a systems error cheapens the system- there are simply cases of gross lack of individual accountability. Based on the CNS report and the list of places where basic nursing roles and responsibilities such as the rights of medication administration were bypassed points to this going beyond a systems error. The correct med was ordered, the correct med was profiled, etc. At the very least, subpar nursing should have resulted in some disciplinary action and required remediation.

[Wuzzie]

Sounds to me like the Tennessee BON got caught with their pants down and now are scrambling to do what they should have done in the first place. I hope they pull her license. As much as I don’t wish misfortune on any human being she has proven herself unworthy of it and there is no guarantee if they continue to let her practice she won’t do something like this again. Regardless of what anybody says this was NOT a simple med error nor was she a victim of the system. Yes, the hospital’s response to the event was inexcusable and they should pay for that but that is an entirely different issue.

As far as the criminal charges. She knew better and CHOSE to practice in an unsafe manner. She was negligent and a vulnerable person died as a result. If that doesn’t fit the definition of negligent homicide I don’t know what does.

[Susie2310]

I agree with Rose_Queen and Wuzzie.

[CharleeFoxtrot, BSN, RN]

Do I agree with the original change and the TN BON finally getting around to doing something beside irrevocably damaging the public faith in that entity? Absolutely.

Vaught's actions that night should be used as the dictionary definition of "egregious".

[MunoRN, RN]

Her string of failures were certainly disturbing, and I get that given the outcome there's a desire to see her punished, but I don't agree that the precedent that has to be set to make that happen is worth it.

The precedent set by the charges against her is that use of the "override" function is now a criminal act, regardless of whether it's justified by the clinical situation or even clearly stated policy. As a result, my organization has removed the medication "profile" for patients in our ADCs (we use Pyxis) so there is no longer a need for the "override" function, according to our legal team this will likely become common. Despite not helping in the Vaught case, not finding a medication in the profile is an important mechanism for preventing a nurse from pulling the wrong drug, or at least it used to be.

[JKL33]

I agree with action against the license.

As to the rest of it, I'm pretty much still of the opinion that there is too much unchecked insanity going on in hospitals that affects patient care. I maintain my stance that this whole episode began with a fake emergency. Priorities are dangerously skewed. The time to be outraged is before someone is hurt.

This fatal day isn't the first day that a rather half-assed get 'er done attitude was employed--it is every day and it is typically rewarded. But now we've all had to argue about how much carelessness and mediocrity is tolerable. I adamantly believe that the demarcation between tolerable and not tolerable is not whether or not it benefits the hospital. If it is fine up until the day someone gets killed, that is....I don't know. Just mind-boggling. Indefensible.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

When I first heard of this case, I felt that the criminal charges were an overreaction to an unfortunate mistake, but failed to understand why RV's license hadn't been pulled. As I've learned more, however, I've come to believe that both criminality and incompetency are present here, and I support both the charges and some sort of disciplinary action against her license, preferably revocation.

I know I probably sound like a hard-liner, but I cannot feel much empathy for a nurse who completely disregarded the safety measures put in place for everyone's well-being and walked away when she should have had both eyes on the patient. I don't hope for a prison sentence, but she should never be allowed to work as a nurse again.

[Susie2310]

1 hour ago, MunoRN said:

The precedent set by the charges against her is that use of the "override" function is now a criminal act, regardless of whether it's justified by the clinical situation or even clearly stated policy.

Surely the point is that the "override" function is to be used along with the Five Rights and other medication administration safety checks.

[JKL33]

1 minute ago, Susie2310 said:

Surely the point is that the "override" function is to be used along with the Five Rights and other medication administration safety checks.

Well we all know that is true, but the override itself certainly caused enough outrage on its own and was portrayed as if she broke into the federal reserve vault by doing that.