What are your thoughts about the trial, the conviction, and the sentencing? Watch the video below to see what Radonda Vaught is doing now. Please complete the survey.
Do you agree that this case should have been tried in a court of law?
28
YES
57
NO
Do you agree with the conviction?
33
YES
52
NO
Do you agree with the sentencing? 3 years supervised probation and judicial diversion dismissing the conviction following probation, preserving a clean record with it expunged or completely removed. .
49
Agree with 3 year Probation and Judicial Diversion
29
Agree with 3 year Probation but not Judicial Diversion
7
Disagree with sentence. She should go to prison
She should get her license reinstated upon completion of 3 - year probation
We've followed the Radonda Vaught case from beginning to end including the trial and the recent sentencing. Nurses have had differing opinions from the beginning - with some change in opinions with the revelation of the details of the fatal event.
But what about the sentence - 3 years supervised probation with the opportunity for Judicial Diversion upon the successful completion of the 3-year probationary period. What does this mean?
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."
What are your thoughts about this? Take our short survey....
You might be interested in what Radonda Vaught's thoughts are following the trial and sentencing and what she is doing now .
Here is a video of an interview Radonda had with Eva Pilgrim on Nightline about her tragic mistake that left a patient dead and the unprecedented criminal charges and conviction that followed.
What are your thoughts? Please take the survey and post additional comments below.
Can we leave her well alone now that the justice system has pronounced its sentence?
Let her enjoy the little break from hospital drudgery so many of us resent and yet are loathe to leave.
She's been parading herself in front of the media of late, seemingly basking in the limelight.
Can we leave her well alone now that the justice system has pronounced its sentence?
Let her enjoy the little break from hospital drudgery so many of us resent and yet are loathe to leave.
If she wanted to be left alone she wouldn't be on TV.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
8 hours ago, Ado Annie said:
Particularly, Kim Potter was convicted for killing a man when she clearly intended to use her taser, but used her gun instead. She became aware of it only after she had shot him. My initial take on this was that it was a tragedy, and I had sympathy for her, but that I thought the charge and the conviction were appropriate. After analyzing my reactions to the Vaught case, I have to rethink that. Although the activists will say otherwise, I don't see any evidence that Officer Potter's response held any racial bias. It was a mistake.
As someone who lives in this community where it took place, I can tell you with assurance that systemic racism goes VERY DEEP in the community here, particularly in LE. So yeah, I would say 100% there was unconscious racial bias that played a part in her deploying her gun instead of her taser. Not like "Yeah, I want to kill him!" but more like a heightened sense of panic due to his race, causing her to not think clearly, and that she would not have responded with this heightened sense of panic if he had been a white kid.
She's been parading herself in front of the media of late, seemingly basking in the limelight.
She has been in the media a lot telling her side of the story now that the trial is over. But I would hardly say she's "basking in the limelight". She looks pretty miserable to me. But you're entitled to your opinion.
She's been parading herself in front of the media of late, seemingly basking in the limelight.
I understand a nurse making a mistake (raise your hand if you haven't). I can also understand a nurse being incompetent. But what I don't understand is a nurse being openly hostile and vindictive towards a another nurse, unless the nurse in question has acted with malice and criminal intent to injure a patient. What I am seeing is active animosity against another member of the profession who made a mistake.
None of us here are making a hero out of the said nurse. All we are saying is that a charge of a crime is unwarranted for a mistake, however egregious. This opens a floodgate for more nurses to be tried for giving the wrong dose or right dose a the wrong time. We are surprised that such a matter was not dealt with at board level and/ or charged differently.
For those of you viciously attacking the said nurse, what goes around, comes around (if you are really a nurse or other health care professional). Be prepared to be charged criminally on your next mistake.
Specializes in M/S, LTC, home care, corrections and psych.
4 hours ago, Tweety said:
She has been in the media a lot telling her side of the story now that the trial is over. But I would hardly say she's "basking in the limelight". She looks pretty miserable to me. But you're entitled to your opinion.
Saying she's "basking in the limelight" comes very close to shaming a fellow nurse. The media will promote what it wants, like the old saying goes, "if it bleeds, it leads". Knocking down nurses right now seems to be the sport of the day. Remember Congress and limiting traveler pay? And it's also a perfect example of why nurses will never be able to unionize. To many of them with a holier-than-thou attitude to actually form a cohesive entity.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
4 hours ago, By-a-thred, RN said:
For an SYSTEM/PROCEDURE failure? She needs some disciplinary action but "but for the grace of God go I" and I choose to show her grace.
Um, no. If you are as careless as she is, then you should have your license taken away also.
Once again - people ***ing rallying around her based on her side of the story, without having actually reading the CMS report to see how egregious her carelessness was.
4 hours ago, By-a-thred, RN said:
And it's also a perfect example of why nurses will never be able to unionize. To many of them with a holier-than-thou attitude to actually form a cohesive entity.
There are MANY nursing unions all over the US. I've worked in 5 different states, and 4 of them were heavily union.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
And how the system forced her to push a med and immediately walk away without even assessing the patient's response, going against everything we've ever been taught in nursing school.
Frankly I am surprised at how many nurses have rallied to the side of this being simply a mistake. What happened is way more than a simple mistake. The amount of safety protocols designed to prevent such a mistake that she simply ignored or purposefully over-rode is what made this not just a simple mistake.
If there was a way to hold the Tennessee BON partly responsible for her arrest and subsequent trial and conviction I'd be all for it. If the BON had seen fit to take appropriate action by immediately suspending and then revoking her license after investigation maybe the criminal charges wouldn't have had to happen. I do believe it was at least partly the inaction of the BON that caused the DA to press charges.
That being said once those charges were filed I do think the charges and conviction were appropriate to the situation. I agree she shouldn't face prison time, she's not a threat to the public or a threat to re-offend. I don't agree with the possibility of her criminal record being expunged. That leaves the possibility, however remote of her getting a nursing license back someday.
Emergent, RN
4,302 Posts
She's been parading herself in front of the media of late, seemingly basking in the limelight.