Nurse RaDonda Vaught’s Hearing Testimony

Vaught, a Tennessee nurse, was on trial in a criminal case that has caught the attention of medical professionals across the country. The case involved a medical mistake Vaught made which resulted in a patient's death while she was a nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in late December 2017.

Vaught's widely anticipated trial began in Nashville on March 21, 2022. Her case became a rallying cry for nurses and doctors who worry about setting a precedent criminalizing medical mistakes. Many were watching what happened in the courtroom.

Produced by: Hannah Norman

#news #nurses #Tennessee

[fancystreet]

I’ve been an RN for 40 years in the hospital setting. I have only a year or so until retirement. But this is making me reconsider and retire now. It’s time to get out. Because as nurses… we are human, we’re not robots. She made a med error, she didn’t try to cover it up, she has more than paid the price for this error. She is devastated and lives with it every day. Have I made a med error? Yes of course I have. I probably made med errors I don’t even know about. Does it happen often? No it does not. Anyone who is a nurse working inpatient knows what it’s like and unless you have done what we have… you wouldn’t know. Don’t even try. What will jail time do? My god have people gone crazy? My heart goes out to her.

[mags]

I worked at a hospital where a nurse gave an overdose of epinephrine and the patient died. The doctor had ordered the dose given. She was an ICU nurse helping in the ED. She confirmed with the doctor before giving it. She was so distraught she ended up committing suicide. I think the guilt you have to live with is enough. This nurse on trial already lost her license and has to live with this the rest of her life. What is throwing her in jail going to prove? I think it’s terrible this happened but I think we need to hold the hospital accountable as well. Why are they not on trial? How overworked was she? What else was she dealing with at the time? When we continue to look at the individual and not the systemic problems for why these things occur they will continue to happen.

[sjgandia]

my heart goes to this nurse... i am a nurse as well and this could have been any of us... we are humans and always prone to mistakes... we are stressed, understaffed... and always prone to committing a mistake. I pray to bless all nurses with wisdom and guidance as we all perform our mission to take care of the sick...

[angiemuwonge]

As a nurse I really feel for this nurse. This could be any of us, my prayers for both families 🙏🙏🙏

[andreakeeling]

The bypassing of controls is a management rationalization. It’s accountability is from the TOP down. She should not be the only one held responsible for this. But she is definitely responsible for choosing to continue in the rationalization that bypassing the warnings was ok to do.

[chp]

My heart is shattered that poor woman is already living with the guilt. Now she is criminally being charged it breaks my heart and screw whoever put in that tip they are disgusting to do that to a fellow nurse.

[Kinypshun]

Hospitals are just like any corporation, except they are in the business of life or death. They don't care. They'll work nurses to death, and mark up services 500% because several million in profits isn't enough. I work for a company that let 20% of their trained work force go via separation and retirement when they closed all local offices, because employees couldn't move to their shiney new building down south. Three years later, my company "changed their mind" and are now offering a referral bonus, begging retired employees to come back, and hiring people to work remotely. This happened before COVID. Now it's worse. My point: When my company does it, a customer is on hold too long and has to wait longer for their claim to be paid. When a hospital does it, someone dies. THEY DON"T CARE. Millions paid to hospital CEO but it took Vanderbilt years to clear up their "medicine cabinet" problem?

[leslieridenour]

This is so painful to listen to. My heart hurts for this nurse.😥

[erobinson]

I’m a nurse & I feel so bad for this woman. To send a nurse to jail knowing there was NO criminal intent is crazy

[brianharrison]

If she gets jail time, I'm walking. Medication errors happen. If she goes to jail, I'm out of the job after 25 years. The public has ZERO clue what it's like to work in nursing. They have zero clue what it's like to work on the floor!! We don't get up in the morning intending to kill someone, we get up in the morning and pray we don't. Everyday. I feel so so sorry that this happened to this lady, and I feel so much for her family. She went into a hospital and didn't come back out. But this should never have gone so far. Witch hunt!! Shame on those who dragged this to court.

[angelp.]

I got out of nsg after 38yrs due to Covid. Im so glad. This is BS

[brendaklingelsmith]

If you all think there's a nursing shortage now just wait and see what happens if she's convicted of murder. Her assignment was unsafe from the beginning. The system was not in place for safety. On and on. I wouldn't step foot back into active practice if mistakes could put you in prison! Her employer failed her. Review all the facts before you come for me!

[RNSKr]

This had been my biggest fear while being a Nurse my entire career, is that this could happen to me, even when you follow what you’ve been taught to do to prevent medical errors. The medical institutions don’t give a shit that the added stresses they slam on nurses who are ready working in a high stressful areas ads to events like this happening! Having to report near misses & errors by others has freaked me out that when you are acting human, errors can happen! They are mistakes & never done on purpose. If I did my job as a nurse like so many people do in the fast food industry, I’d have patient's dropping left & right! No matter what work you do, when you are stressed you can not function @ a top capacity & not eventually make an error. I for one after 27 years decided to step away from nursing before I could make a mistake & cost someone their life. I can’t handle the terrible stresses anymore that the majority of medical institutions place on nurses. And it is so they can picket more dollars! It’s all financially driven! Never should a nurse have to go through what this nurse is going through. It is all 100% preventable! Hold the medical institutions 100% accountable for their negligence in managing their employees!

[moneekyisis]

This sucks cause there has been many times during a rapid response where My override permissios didn't include Ativan for seizures, Cardizem for afib rvr, or even nitro for chest pain. The system is flawed.

[LTzEzz]

In most instances, after a sentinal event, a review of the process is conducted, and a solution to whatever is broken in the system is found and enacted. The process was broken, and people generally aren't. There are so many things that could have been targeted in the process, rather than the nurse. And this is a scary precedent for the system.

[kathleenjohnson]

I want to see ICN take on this. this has me so emotionally unsettled. two fold, yes they are checks and balances that must be made but is it so black and white. I WANT NURSES TO STAND TO ASS UP ALL OVER THE WORLD AND STOP WORKING WITH INADEQUATE RATIOS, WORKING UNDERSTAFFFED, EMPLOYING THE Cadear mentality because yes a mistake was made but I always say, when the shit hits the fan the nurse is always left with the nastiness

[JessicaNaranjo]

Really? Are they really trying to put this woman in jail? 2 years of a horrible pandemic nurses just went through, and this is how we treat them?! Btw, I’m not even a nurse. I’m sorry for the victim and the family, and I’m sorry for this woman. She does not deserve jail time. Nurses are burnt out. They’re human too. There’s no malice in this case.

[TrueCrimeJade]

The jury should feel ashamed of themselves, and it sickens me that there was a nurse on the jury. This woman did not wake up and say “oh I think I am going to kill a patient today” WHY ARE WE SENDING PEOPLE TO PRISON FOR AN ACCIDENT? This is sickening!

[honeyannjacob]

May God help her.... As a Nurse it makes me personally to look and share the importance of such negligence . It happens for anyone of us
Let’s pray for all of us AMEN

[kirkdennis]

I hope and pray she isn't charged.

Having read Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment people often suffer internally from the crimes they commit. No less from accidents.

This nurse doesn't look to have had done so with any premeditated intent.

I will stand behind her. I believe in God. I believe all things happen by His will.