Healthcare Facility – Patient Harm
A former Tennessee nurse has been found guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the death of a patient who was accidentally given the wrong medication. She was also found guilty of gross neglect of an impaired adult in a case that has fixed the attention of patient safety advocates and nurses’ organizations around the country.
EMS1 reports that 37-year-old RaDonda Vaught injected the paralyzing drug vecuronium into 75-year-old Charlene Murphey instead of the sedative Versed on Dec. 26, 2017.
Vaught freely admitted to making several errors with the medication that day, but her defense attorney argued the nurse was not acting outside of the norm and systemic problems at Vanderbilt University Medical Center were at least partly to blame for the error.
The jury found Vaught not guilty of reckless homicide. Criminally negligent homicide was a lesser charge included under the original charge.
Murphey had been admitted to the neurological intensive care unit on Dec. 24, 2017, after suffering from a brain bleed. Two days later, doctors trying to determine the cause of the bleed ordered a PET scan to check for cancer.
Murphey was claustrophobic and was prescribed Versed for her anxiety, according to testimony. When Vaught could not find Versed in an automatic drug dispensing cabinet, she used an override and accidentally grabbed vecuronium instead.
Vecuronium is a medication used as part of general anesthesia to provide skeletal muscle relaxation during surgery or mechanical ventilation.
Vaught said she is concerned that the verdict will cause other providers “to be wary about coming forward to tell the truth. I don’t think the take-away from this is not to be honest and truthful.”
The sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 13. Vaught faces three to six years in prison on the gross neglect conviction and one to two years on the criminally negligent homicide conviction.
Vaught has been free on bail and remains free until after she is sentenced. She said she had not considered whether she would appeal.
Tags: Drug Swap Homicide Nurse Patient Harm Provider Arrest
