Should RaDonda Vaught Have Her Nursing License Reinstated?

[Nurse Beth]

RaDonda Vaught Seeking Reinstatement of Nursing License

TN state nursing board's 2021 decision to revoke her nursing license will be appealed in court on Tuesday, March 28. If the appeal is successful, she will face a retrial before the Tennessee Board of Nursing.

Nursing boards generally make decisions regarding the reinstatement of nursing licenses based on various factors, including the nature and severity of an offense, the rehabilitation efforts of the individual, and their ability to practice nursing safely and competently.

If RaDonda Vaught has completed the requirements (if any) and demonstrated that she could meet the standards of safe and competent nursing practice, then it may be possible for her to have her RN license reinstated. However, this decision ultimately rests with the state nursing board.

Background

Most of us recall the RaDonda Vaught case in 2017 because it involved a fatal medication error, and she was charged with reckless homicide for the mistake. The decision to prosecute her made history because it set a precedent for criminalizing medical errors.

On December 26, 2017,  RaDonda Vaught, a 35-year-old RN, worked as a "help-all" nurse at the Nashville, Tennessee-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She was sent to Radiology Services to administer VERSED (midazolam) to Charlene Murphey, a 75-year-old woman recovering from a brain injury and scheduled for a PET scan.

Charlene Murphey was experiencing anxiety, and her provider ordered Versed, a sedative,  to help her through the procedure. RaDonda entered the letters "ve" for Versed (the brand name) in the automated dispensing cabinet (ADC) search field.

No matches populated the screen under the patient's profile, so RaDonda used the ADC override function and again entered "ve," this time mistakenly selecting vecuronium.

Vecuronium is a neuromuscular blocking agent, and patients must be mechanically ventilated when administered vecuronium. RaDonda reconstituted the drug and administered what she thought was one mg of Versed.

Unaware of her mistake, RaDonda left the patient unmonitored and went on to her next help-all assignment in the ED to conduct a swallow test.

Charlene Murphey was discovered about 30 minutes later by a transporter who noticed she wasn't breathing. She had sustained an unwitnessed respiratory arrest and was pulseless. She was coded, intubated, and taken back to ICU but was brain-dead and died within twelve hours.

Charges and Convictions

Legal System

On February 4th, 2019, RaDonda was indicted and arrested on charges of reckless criminal homicide and impaired adult abuse.

On May 13, 2022, she was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult, and sentenced to 3 years of supervised probation.

Board of Nursing

On September 27, 2019, the TN Department of Health (Nursing Board) reversed its previous decision not to pursue discipline against the nurse and charged RaDonda Vaught with:

• unprofessional conduct,
• abandoning or neglecting a patient, and
• failing to document the error.

On July 23, 2021, at the BON disciplinary trial, the Tennessee (TN) Board of Nursing revoked RaDonda Vaught's professional nursing license indefinitely, fined her $3,000, and stipulated that she pay up to $60,000 in prosecution costs. 

Controversial

Many opposed RaDonda Vaught being charged with a crime, including the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), the Institute of Safe Medicine Practice (ISMP), and the American Nurses Association (ANA).

If nurses fear reporting their errors for fear of criminal charges, it discourages ethical principles of honesty.

But should RaDonda be allowed to practice nursing again?

The (ISMP) felt strongly that revoking her license was a travesty and that the severity of the outcome wrongly influenced the decision. Contributing system errors were minimized, and RaDonda Vaught became the scapegoat, while Vanderbilt escaped full notoriety.

The ISMP said RaDonda displayed human error and at-risk behaviors but not reckless behavior. She did not act with evil intent and is a second victim of a fatal error. In a Just Culture, discipline is not meted out for human error.

Do you think RaDonda Vaught should be allowed to practice nursing again, and why or why not?

Thank you for your thoughts!

[LibraSunCNM, BSN, MSN, CNM]

Y'all.  Save your money and just come confront her at my local farmer's market  ?

[Wuzzie]

subee said:

Count me in!  I'd love to see the videos of that trip!

I'm slightly afraid of ending up in a Caribbean prison. 

[CaffeinePOQ4HPRN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

Wuzzie said:

I'm slightly afraid of ending up in a Caribbean prison. 

That is a very likely scenario. Please don't go!

[sistrmoon, BSN, RN]

CaffeinePOQ4HPRN said:

Honestly, I'm gobsmacked!  Something is clearly wrong with her.

I was wrong on the price I quoted too. $2500 was just 25% down. 10k a piece. 

[ValarieRN08]

Hello, 

I believe everyone deserves a second chance. I understand the levels that she went through to override the medication. I understand we have a patient that is dead. If she gets the license reinstated it should have limitations on it. She can work in case management or with insurance companies' medication dispensing is out until the board sees fit. 

Case scenario my 70-year-old mother was in the hospital diagnosed with cancer and Mets to the brain. She was over medicated by an RN with fentanyl. They gave her Narcan to reverse the fentanyl. My mother was in agony I could hear the screams from the hallway when I arrived at the hospital. I was more upset they brought her back than the overdose. So, look at the whole picture. 75 years old female with a brain bleed. Not condoning but understanding. 

Valarie RN, BSN

[mtmkjr, BSN]

ValarieRN08 said:

I was more upset they brought her back than the overdose. So, look at the whole picture. 75 years old female with a brain bleed. Not condoning but understanding. 

Valarie RN, BSN

? I don't even know what to say here. I hope you didn't mean to imply that anyone should be less horrified at the manner in which she died because of her age and debility? 

[ValarieRN08]

He who has no sin cast the first stone. If your human, you have made mistakes. Some nurses have lost their compassion not me! Blessings

[Wuzzie]

ValarieRN08 said:

He who has no sin cast the first stone. If your human, you have made mistakes. Some nurses have lost their compassion not me! Blessings

Would you be comfortable letting her care for one of your loved ones?

 

ValarieRN08 said:

So, look at the whole picture. 75 years old female with a brain bleed.

She had a small bleed and was absoluely completely normal. Shame on you for implying that this was okay. 

[FiremedicMike, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

ValarieRN08 said:

He who has no sin cast the first stone. If your human, you have made mistakes. Some nurses have lost their compassion not me! Blessings

Valarie, you can toss that condescending attitude right into the trash.  I've actually been through burnout and brought myself back into a healthy balance of patient care and wellbeing.

The fact I can objectively look at the facts of the case and her entire "the system screwed me" attitude post adjudication and conclude "nope, she's done" is not a reflection of a lack of compassion, but rather my ability to think critically and predict outcomes based on available data.

[Edie Brous]

Her case did not "set a precedent" - criminal prosecution of nurses/doctors/pharmacists for adverse events is not new.  What is new, is social media and the internet so more people are aware of this one.

[toomuchbaloney]

ValarieRN08 said:

He who has no sin cast the first stone. If your human, you have made mistakes. Some nurses have lost their compassion not me! Blessings

This has nothing to do with compassion.  It has everything to do with professional negligence and the need of some people to defend unrepentant killers.

[MaxAttack, BSN, RN]

ValarieRN08 said:

So, look at the whole picture. 75 years old female with a brain bleed. Not condoning but understanding. 

....

He who has no sin cast the first stone. If your human, you have made mistakes. Some nurses have lost their compassion not me! Blessings

Holy hell..

You can keep whatever kind of compassion you claim to have.

It's OK that a 91 year old was brutally murdered. She was going to die soon anyway. It's OK that the 41 year old was raped and killed because she had end-stage cancer anyway.

So yeah, congrats on the most sociopathic opinion I've ever read on this site.