Tennessee Nurse RaDonda Vaught - Legal Perspectives of Fatal Medication Error

[HigginsdogRN]

On ‎3‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 7:08 AM, Wuzzie said:

I see what you're saying but in the "good old days" we didn't have anything like a Pyxis or bar-code scanning so we relied on the 5 rights that are still taught today. If those had been followed there wouldn't even be a story regardless of overrides. Frankly, it pains me to say this because I love technology and am the smart user for most of it on my unit, I'm afraid it has made us a little lazy and less detail-oriented. If a nurse is willing and able to override the safety mechanisms built into a system and also disregards the basic tenets of safe drug administration then has our "progress" made things better? Maybe a re-evaluation of the old ways to pull out the positives is in order. Obviously going backwards entirely would be ridiculous and that's not at all what I'm saying but sometimes "new" is not better it just looks cooler.

Last I knew there are now up to 10 checks taught. That's part of the problem.

[Luchador, CNA, EMT-B]

2 hours ago, HigginsdogRN said:

Last I knew there are now up to 10 checks taught. That's part of the problem.

Not in my ADN program. 5 rights ➕ documentation is what we learned.

But then again we learned what Versed was in the first pharmocology semester......

[Justcultureisjustcrap]

Lose license.. yes. Prison??? No.. it was a mistake- albeit fatal- it was a mistake. I don't sense there was any ill intent. 

[Wuzzie]

Agree with the no prison view but feel the charges are valid and she needs more than losing her license. She clearly hasn't learned anything AEB her recent behavior.

[yomurse]

Can someone please tell me what a CMS report is and where can I read it?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

21 minutes ago, yomurse said:

Can someone please tell me what a CMS report is and where can I read it?

The CMS report is the report out by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. I believe @Wuzzie has linked to the a few times in some of the other threads in this topic. 

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

8 hours ago, Justcultureisjustcrap said:

Lose license.. yes. Prison??? No.. it was a mistake- albeit fatal- it was a mistake. I don't sense there was any ill intent. 

I disagree with this. My opinion is she should get jail time. Was it a mistake? Sure, but it was a mistake that happened because of gross negligence well beyond a failure to follow acceptable standard med administration policies. 

I look at it kind of like the person who kills somebody while driving drunk. Was that a mistake and an accident? Sure, but while there was no ill intent that person still made the choice to get behind the wheel after drinking and should face the consequences that come with vehicular manslaughter.  

Just like in my opinion Ms Vaught should face the consequences of deciding to ignore every step that could have prevented her from giving that fatal med.