RaDonda Vaught Receives Probation

Speaking to the crowd from beneath a purple-and-white banner reading, “We Are Nurses, Not Criminals,” organizer Tina Vinsant, RN, BSN, host of the “Good Nurse, Bad Nurse” podcast, asked for a moment of silence for Charlene Murphey, the patient who died after Vaught inadvertently administered the paralyzing agent vecuronium instead of the prescribed sedative.

“Obviously, something tragic happened, but we’re also here to support our sister nurse,” Vinsant declared. She says Vaught “shouldn’t have been charged in the first place” for the error that killed Murphey.

ANA Request for Leniency

On May 5, a week before the sentencing hearing, the ANA and the Tennessee Nurses Association (TNA) took the unusual step of sending a letter to the judge, pleading for leniency for Vaught. “Nurses are carefully watching this case and they are scared,” the letter said. “They see themselves in Nurse Vaught; we see ourselves in Nurse Vaught. Our peers and colleagues and healthcare professionals beyond nursing see themselves in Vaught.”

The letter emphasized Vaught’s good faith in reporting the error and cooperating with investigators, saying her “actions were honest and ethical and reflect the expectations outlined in the Nurses Code of Ethics to timely disclose errors to promote patient health and safety.”

An Apology, But No Clemency

After her sentencing, Vaught apologized to the Murphey family, both for the error that killed their loved one and for the public spectacle that has followed. (In a statement provided to the district attorney’s office following the verdict in March, Murphey’s daughter-in-law, Chandra Murphey, said the political controversy has denied the family “closure” and forced them to endure the trauma “all over again.”)

“You don’t deserve this,” Vaught said. “I hope it does not come across as people forgetting your loved one.”

Representatives of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee reported in April that the governor does not plan to grant clemency to RaDonda Vaught, but podcaster Tina Vinsant says she and other supporters have called on state legislators to protect nurses from criminal liability in cases of medical error. Vinsant wants to see similar protections enacted in every state.

In a statement released after the sentencing, the ANA and TNA expressed gratitude for the lenient sentence, but warned again of the dangers of criminalizing medical errors, asking healthcare leaders, regulators and administrators to instead “support a just culture, which includes recognizing that mistakes happen and systems fail.”

In this Article: Legal Action and Enforcement, Medical Errors, Patient Safety