By now, most nurses know about the tragic story surrounding RaDonda Vaught, the Tennessee nurse found guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of patient. She was criminally prosecuted for a medical error.
Long story short, RaDonda Vaught gave a patient the wrong medication, a human error, and the patient sadly died.
RaDonda came forward and told the truth. Now, she faces three to six years in prison on the gross neglect conviction and one to two years on the criminally negligent homicide conviction. She will be sentenced on May 13, 2022.
Vanderbilt Hospital threw RaDonda under the bus, and she stood alone. This action has outraged many nurses, and some have opted to leave their positions.
What happened to hospital back up systems that should have prevented this? The hospital had more than a heavy burden of responsibility for the deadly errors, but charges were only brought against the nurse.
The American Nurses Association stated,
"Today a jury convicted former Vanderbilt University Medical
Center #nurse
RaDonda Vaught. We are deeply distressed by this verdict and the harmful
ramifications of criminalizing the honest reporting of mistakes. Full
Statement: https://bit.ly/3DcNDZG."
This is a sad time and wake up call for all nurses.
We feel for the patient and the family. They certainly deserve justice, but sending a nurse to jail is not the answer.
Please share your thoughts and respectful comments. RaDonda has handled this with grace and poise. That is the least we can give her now.
Donna
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