Nurse RaDonda Vaught has been convicted of criminal homicide due to a medication error which debatably caused the death of a 75 year old patient.
After reading about this case it seems Ms Vaught was attempting to medicate her patient with Versed prior to an MRI. She mistakenly withdrew vecuronium- she over rode several warning screens in the Pyxis machine and administered the medication to the patient. The patient subsequently passed away, it is unclear from the news reports if this was the sole cause of death as the medical examiner was unable to determine the amount of medication that was in the patients system.
My Opinion- As a nurse, we've all been there. We've all over rode the pyxis warning screens- so sure that we knew what we were doing. Its similar to being on auto pilot. Having done the same tasks countless times before. But, as any nurse will tell you, there are so many factors that could have contributed to this error-- What was the staffing ratio for this day? Was there any rapids earlier? Had she already been down to the pharmacy 5x prior to get medication for a patient? Was she having issues outside of work that had her mind occupied? --- No one will ever know. But the bottom line, she made a mistake. Only a nurse knows the heaviness that's felt after a busy shift, hoping you did everything right, hoping all your patients are safe.....We've all made medication errors- most of us fess up to it because the bottom line is we always want our patients to be safe. Charging a nurse with criminal homicide is not the answer. This is the wrong message to send to the nursing world- especially now, when the nursing world is already so hurt, so struggling, so alone. How can we say nurses are heroes-- and then charge someone with homicide?? Discipline- yes absolutely, but homicide---never.
Source: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2022/03/25/radonda-vaught-trial-vanderbilt-nurse-jury-verdict/7154135001/
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