Hundreds of health-care professionals rallied outside a Nashville courtroom on Friday to oppose the sentencing of a former Tennessee nurse who faces up to 8 years in prison for accidentally killing a patient.
RaDonda Vaught was found guilty in March of criminally negligent homicide and severe neglect of an incapacitated adult after administering the incorrect drug by mistake.
Given her lack of prior convictions, the maximum punishment is improbable. Her risk of reoffending was judged as “low” in a sentencing report. Vaught faces 3 to 6 years in prison for severe neglect and just one to 2 years for criminally negligent homicide, so the judge might issue her a three-year suspended sentence at the very least.
The fact that she faces any criminal charges at all has been a rallying point for several nurses, who were already irritated by terrible working conditions compounded by the pandemic.
On December 26, 2017, Vaught, 38, administered the paralyzing medication vecuronium rather than the sedative Versed into 75-year-old Charlene Murphey. Vaught admitted to making many mistakes that resulted in the fatal injection, but her defense attorney contended that systemic issues at Vanderbilt University Medical Center were at least partially to blame.
During the trial, the state’s expert witness contended that Vaught breached the level of care required of nurses. She did not even read the name of the drug, didn’t even notice a red warning on the cap of the medication, and didn’t remain with the patient to monitor for an unexpected reaction, according to nurse legal consultant Donna Jones.
Vaught was found not guilty of reckless homicide by a jury. A lesser felony included in the original indictment was criminally negligent homicide.
