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.
Look alike, sound alike drugs. It's the warning we're given in nursing 101. Vanderbuilt also tried to cover it up and not report the error to the medical examiner? The medical examiner also change the cause of death, once they found out there was a med error. I didn't know you can just sporadically change those things. He/she wasn't fired or lost their license as far as I know.
^This, a thousand times this. I keep hearing all this misinformation and it's making me nuts. "She was floating and in an unfamiliar unit". Nope, she was an extra nurse on her very own unit. "They were short staffed" Nope, they were overstaffed which is why she was functioning as a resource nurse. "She was helping all units and overwhelmed". Nope, she was only working on her unit which, after 2 years, one would think she was comfortable working. "She was tired from 12 hour shifts". Nope, she denied this. Also, interesting to note that 12 hours shifts are being made out to sound awful but many nurses bristle at the idea of going back to 8 hour shifts. "She wasn't familiar with Versed". Nope, she states she had given it in the last 24 hours. "The Versed wasn't in the Accudose which is why she had to override it". Nope, it had been profiled 10 minutes prior to her attempt to pull it. She couldn't find it because she didn't know the generic name. "She bravely self-reported" Nope, the error was discovered by another nurse and brought to her attention. She had no way to conceal it. "She is representative of how awful things are in nursing and how we are victimized" Nope, she doesn't represent me or my colleagues who daily face the challenges that caring for other humans presents but somehow we manage to read the label on the vials of medication we are about to push.
1) She was staffed to work in the neuro ICU but she DID float to imaging to administer the med.
2) She said she was overwhelmed BECAUSE she was working as a resource nurse, floating around the hospital to other departments to help out with the patients (such as the one in question) all while training/orientee a new hire.
3) Who cringes at the idea of 8hr shifts? Because it seems the older generation of nurses were the ones who agreed to 12h. Who was surveyed recently to determine this? I certainly did not participate. I know of at least 13 nurses who would LOVE 8hr shifts again. I know nurses who are clawing to get away from the bedside just to work 8h shifts again. So that was just purely opinion-based.
4) She may not have known the generic name. That's not ALL of the issue. There were multiple issues at hand with the Pyxis. For some reason, Vanderbilt did not require 2 people to pull narcs or override at the time.
Vanderbilt actually made many strict changes with their Pyxis and charting systems following that. The changes they had made were things I had already seen in place well before I became a nurse myself. Simple policy changes that most of the hospitals in the country already had in place.
Completely agree that she should've at least investigated why the med had different names even if she thought Versed WAS the generic name. No one knows what was going through her head in that moment.
Not everyone are like you and your colleagues. Not everyone is able to handle being overwhelmed daily. She doesn't seem like she went to work with the intent to commit homicide that day.
For her, this could be a blessing and a curse. She is able to escape the taxing demands of nursing while also being able to live comfortably with the support she does have. I feel for the family. That would eat at me every day. The family has forgiven her; why can't other nurses do the same?
Specializes in ACNP-BC, Adult Critical Care, Cardiology.
She seems remorseful. Regardless of her acts of negligence, you can't deny the fact that she will never get rid of the weight of Charlene's death on her mind which she admitted on the video. The entire process from litigation to sentencing seems to have made their toll on her. I don't mind that she is doing the media circuit if that helps her process her own grief.
1) She was staffed to work in the neuro ICU but she DID float to imaging to administer the med.
No she walked to radiology to administer a medication to a patient from her unit. Not at all the “floating” people are talking about
2) She said she was overwhelmed BECAUSE she was working as a resource nurse, floating around the hospital to other departments to help out with the patients (such as the one in question) all while training/orientee a new hire.
She never said she was overwhelmed. She said she was distracted. Big difference.
3) Who cringes at the idea of 8hr shifts? Because it seems the older generation of nurses were the ones who agreed to 12h. Who was surveyed recently to determine this? I certainly did not participate. I know of at least 13 nurses who would LOVE 8hr shifts again. I know nurses who are clawing to get away from the bedside just to work 8h shifts again. So that was just purely opinion-based.
There’s a recent thread where a large percentage of nurses discuss how they would never work 8s because they like having 4 days off . People remarked about the staffing difficulties with 8 hour shifts. This is not a new thing
4) She may not have known the generic name. That's not ALL of the issue. There were multiple issues at hand with the Pyxis. For some reason, Vanderbilt did not require 2 people to pull narcs or override at the time.
No it’s not all the issues but her not reading the vial is the worst of them and Vanderbilt cannot be blamed for that.
Vanderbilt actually made many strict changes with their Pyxis and charting systems following that. The changes they had made were things I had already seen in place well before I became a nurse myself. Simple policy changes that most of the hospitals in the country already had in place.
I have worked in several teaching institutions and not one of them required 2 nurses for a narc pull or an override. I don’t think “most” do.
Completely agree that she should've at least investigated why the med had different names even if she thought Versed WAS the generic name. No one knows what was going through her head in that moment.
Not everyone are like you and your colleagues. Not everyone is able to handle being overwhelmed daily. She doesn't seem like she went to work with the intent to commit homicide that day.
Myself and my colleagues are not super human. We struggle like everyone else and sometimes drop the ball but not more than 10 times in one shot
For her, this could be a blessing and a curse. She is able to escape the taxing demands of nursing while also being able to live comfortably with the support she does have. I feel for the family. That would eat at me every day. The family has forgiven her; why can't other nurses do the same?
Not my place to forgive or not but I will not have her representing me.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
I've never worked anywhere that required 2 nurses to pull narcotics or override medications. I've worked at (counts on fingers)...9 different hospitals, in 5 different states.
Can you imagine the logistical nightmare of needing 2 nurses every time you need to pull an oxycodone for a post-op patient??
I've never worked anywhere that required 2 nurses to pull narcotics or override medications. I've worked at (counts on fingers)...9 different hospitals, in 5 different states.
Can you imagine the logistical nightmare of needing 2 nurses every time you need to pull an oxycodone for a post-op patient??
Agreed.
And by the way she did have another nurse with her. Granted he was an orientee but he made a statement that he didn't need any step by step on administering Versed since he had already given it several times.
And by the way she did have another nurse with her. Granted he was an orientee but he made a statement that he didn't need any step by step on administering Versed since he had already given it several times.
I hadn't heard the orientee said that and I always kind of wondered where the orientee was during this. Probably a good thing as that makes me even more angry and disgusted with the whole situation if true.
Here I was sort of feeling bad for an orientee caught up in this not knowing any better but... this makes him sound like a know-it--all who if he would have bothered to pay attention while being oriented might have caught the error before it even happened since he apparently had given Versed several times and knows the procedure for administering that drug well enough to not feel the need for any further training. So I guess since he knows what he is doing already he doesn't have any need to pay the slightest bit of attention to what the nurse who is charged with training him was doing.
Wuzzie
5,238 Posts
This ^
@kbrn2002 you said it so mych more elegantly than I have been able to.