On overworked nurse gives her patient the wrong medication. Her actions killed a woman. But did she commit murder?
Resources:
- https://khn.org/news/article/radonda-vaught-nurse-drug-error-vanderbilt-guilty-verdict/
- https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/study_suggests_medical_errors_now_third_leading_cause_of_death_in_the_us
- https://www.localmemphis.com/article/news/crime/former-nashville-tennessee-nurse-guilty-homicide-medication-error-death/522-4c4476e8-5972-48dd-8ebf-4f1dcded58ba
- Prosecution Closing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqBbyVjUFGw
- Defense Closing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAjZrGsnB2o
- Prosecution Rebuttal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG4bNuNJYJg
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB13QCpVxkM
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The Prosecutors Podcast 
I’ve been a nurse for 25 years. I’ve never heard of one being convicted for a mistake. Was RaDonda negligent. Absolutely. Did she check all the boxes for malpractice. Absolutely. But what I don’t understand is why Vanderbilt and their docs got away with falsifying the patient’s death certificate. Initially, it was said to be natural causes. RaDonda was fired and the board of nursing did a hearing and she was fine. It wasn’t until a whistleblower notified the Center for Medicare and Medicaid and they came to visit, found all the cover up and threatened to pull federal money. So, to me, this is reasonable doubt as to whether the vecuronium truly was THE cause of death. There’s just so much that stinks in this case. She admits guilt. And she is guilty. However, stripping her of her nursing license is a guarantee that it will NEVER happen again. It’s not like a drunk driver that can/will get behind the wheel again and again. Without a nursing license, she cannot care for patients or administer meds like she did. She has to live with this the rest of her life and she has lost her livelihood. Nurses tend to not know how to do anything else but be a nurse.
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I understand why you blame system for overworking the nurse but ultimately she is responsible for her decesions to work to the point that her negligence kills a patient. Just like a drunk driver who made choice to drink alcohol and drive, she made a choice to allow the system to overwork her to this point. When patient comes to the hospital, they don’t care whether nurse overworks herself just like a victim of drunk driver who does not care whether that driver had a reason to drink and drive. We can blame society for allowing to drink that much alcohol to be impaired, but the drunk driver is ultimately responsible. Thus, she is also ultimately responsible for killing that patient. Just because she is a nurse, it does not change this fact.
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