RaDonda Vaught homicide case
The RaDonda Vaught homicide case centers around a former nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who was convicted in March 2022 for criminally negligent homicide after mistakenly administering a paralyzing agent instead of a sedative to a 75-year-old patient, Charlene Murphey, who subsequently died. The incident occurred in December 2017 but was not publicly disclosed until late 2018. Vaught was sentenced to three years of probation, sparking widespread public support for her, as many believed the verdict could adversely affect the nursing profession by instilling fear of criminal prosecution for medical errors. Critics, including nursing unions and organizations like the American Nurses Association, warned that such legal repercussions could lead to underreporting of mistakes, ultimately jeopardizing patient safety. The case also raised questions about accountability in healthcare, particularly in contrast to other medical professionals who have faced different legal standards. The ongoing discourse highlights concerns about the systemic issues within medical institutions that contribute to such errors, as well as the implications for future nursing practice in an already strained healthcare environment.
On this Page
Subject Terms
RaDonda Vaught homicide case
The RaDonda Vaught homicide case refers to a former-Vanderbilt University Medical Center nurse who was convicted in March 2022 of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult. However, she was acquitted of reckless homicide. Vaught mistakenly gave the wrong medicine to a seventy-five-year-old patient who died in December 2017. The nurse could have been sentenced to up to eight years in prison, but in May 2022 received three years probation. Public reaction to the Vaught verdict was largely supportive of the thirty-eight-year-old nurse, and almost immediately after the verdict, a clemency petition began. Nurses’ unions expressed their concern that the decision could have a detrimental, long-term impact on the profession, with nurses afraid to admit errors for fear of facing jail time. Other organizations, like the American Nurses Association (ANA), argued that the court’s decision set a dangerous precedent for the nursing profession throughout the country.
Background
In late-December 2017, seventy-five-year-old Charlene Murphey was admitted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center with a brain injury. RaDonda Vaught, thirty-eight-years-old, was a nurse at the hospital. Murphey’s condition was improving at the time Vaught made the error and there was hope for her release from the hospital. Murphey was prescribed the sedative Verced before undergoing a testing procedure. However, when Vaught opened the medicine cabinet, she grabbed Vercuronium, a powerful paralyzer. Although obvious differences existed between the two drugs—one is a liquid and the other is a powder—Vaught still injected Murphey and left before her testing. Murphey went into cardiac arrest and was brain-dead by the time the error was discovered. Though the incident happened in December 2017, it was not publicly revealed until November 2018. Murphey’s family, however, was informed immediately following the death.
Vaught did not testify at her trial, though she admitted her guilt almost immediately following Murphey’s death. Vanderbilt also settled a civil lawsuit with Murphey’s family in early 2018. Murphey was fired from Vanderbilt in January 2018. Though most medical errors are decided in front of a board and never sent to a criminal trial, Vaught’s case was different. She was investigated by the nursing licensing board after Murphey’s death, but the board gave no indication that Vaught should lose her license or be suspended. Then, in July 2021, the Tennessee Board of Nursing revoked Vaught’s nursing license, pointing to multiple mistakes that should have been avoided during the distribution of the medication. In March 2022, Vaught received her guilty verdict, although she was found not guilty on the most severe charge. Prior to her sentencing, Vaught apologized to Murphey’s family, stating that she would have to live with what happened for the rest of her life. Vaught, who cried throughout the trial, also said that at no time during the process did she regret telling the truth about what happened that day. Although Vaught admitted to making errors, her attorney deflected at least some of the guilt back to Vanderbilt, stating that systemic problems at the medical center were at least partly to blame for Murphey’s death. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Unit also said that the medical center bore a heavy duty of responsibility for the drug mix-up.
Vaught’s sentence could have been much worse. Ultimately, her record will be expunged if she successfully completes her probation because of judicial diversion. This is a means by which first-time offenders can have their charges dropped and their record expunged. Prosecutors argued against the judicial diversion but did not argue against probation.
Overview
The RaDonda Vaught verdict came at a time when the medical industry could not fill all its open positions. Heading more toward normalcy following some intense months when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its worst in the United States, hospitals continued to struggle in 2022 to keep enough nurses on staff. Though Vaught was found guilty of only the lesser charges, the potential precedent the decision sets may make medical professions fear the criminalization of medical mistakes. Opponents of the sentence argued that in trying to create a safer patient environment, they may have done the opposite because medical and medication errors may go unreported because of the sentence. At the trial, Vaught’s supporters donned purple t-shirts stating #IAmRaDonda and “Seeking Justice for Nurses and Patients in a BROKEN system.” At the sentencing, some cheered upon hearing that the former nurse would not see the inside of a prison.
Since the case, many healthcare systems were spurred to examine their own safety protocols and cultures to ensure a similar situation would not occur. Hackensack Meridian Health increased the number of characters required to withdraw a medication from one to five when searching using an override on its Omnicell cabinets. In the Vaught case, RaDonda had typed in only two letters to find the medication, a fact that some said contributed to the fatal mistake. Omnicell added the five-letter search in 2020; however, hospitals must opt in to the feature. In contrast, the cabinet company BD made five letters standard on its machines in 2022. A continued focus remains on creating a safe environment where staff feel encouraged to report mistakes.
STAT, a website that describes itself as trusted and authoritative journalism about health and medicine, argued that the Vaught case illustrates a double standard that exists between doctors and nurses. Though Vaught was not given a prison sentence, her criminal conviction for an error that “routinely occurs in health care institutions” was tragic. At minimum, it stands in contrast to an April 2022 case involving a former Ohio doctor who was acquitted of murder charges. William Husel was accused of hastening the deaths of fourteen critically ill patients. STAT writers Michelle Collins and Cherie Burke questioned if the Vaught verdict will dissuade individuals from becoming nurses, especially since making an error of some sort is inevitable in the profession. Criminally prosecuting nurses for those errors has the potential of doing even greater harm to the profession. Even more troubling, according to opponents of the sentencing, is that patients may die because someone is afraid that an honest error will cause them to serve prison time.
Bibliography
Bella, Timothy. “Ex-Nurse Convicted of Injecting Patient with Wrong Drug Gets Probation.” The Washington Post, 14 May 2022, www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/14/tennessee-nurse-wrong-injection-vaught-probation/. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.
Brusie, Chaunie. “RaDonda Vaught Sentenced To 3 Years Supervised Probation.” Nurse.org, 13 May 2022, nurse.org/articles/nurse-radonda-vaught-trial/. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.
Collins, Michelle, and Cherie Burke. “The Case of RaDonda Vaught Highlights Double Standard for Nurses and Physicians.” STAT, 13 May 2022, www.statnews.com/2022/05/13/radonda-vaught-case-double-standard-nurses-physicians/. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.
Kelman, Brett. “Former Nurse Found Guilty in Accidental Injection Death of 75-year-old Patient.” National Public Radio, 25 Mar. 2022, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/03/25/1088902487/former-nurse-found-guilty-in-accidental-injection-death-of-75-year-old-patient. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.
“Protecting Against Error: Lessons Learned From the RaDonda Vaught Case.” Nevada State University, 6 May 2024, nevadastate.edu/son/rn-bsn/protecting-against-error-lessons-learned-from-the-radonda-vaught-case/. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.
Timms, Mariah. “‘Zero Regrets about Telling the Truth’: Ex-nurse RaDonda Vaught Speaks out Ahead of Guilty Verdict.” The Tennessean, 29 Mar. 2022, www.tennessean.com/story/news/crime/2022/03/25/radonda-vaught-speaks-out-jury-verdict-homicide-trial/7167520001/. Accessed 29 Dec 2024.
“What’s Changed 1 Year After RaDonda Vaught’s Conviction?” NJSNA, 26 Apr. 2023, njsna.org/whats-changed-1-year-after-radonda-vaughts-conviction/. Accessed 29 Dec. 2024.