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Sigh of Relief As Nurse Sentenced to Probation
RaDonda Vaught, the former Tennessee nurse convicted of two felonies related to a drug error, was sentenced to three years probation on May 13, 2022 (during Nurses Week, in fact). What’s more, she was granted a judicial diversion, which means that the conviction will be expunged if she completes a three-year probation.
Universally, there has been a sigh of relief among my colleagues and myself.
The mistake Ms. Vaught committed was horrific. A patient, a person and mother, died. The situation was absolutely terrible. It must never happen again.
And that is why Ms. Vaught was up front about her mistake and did the right thing. She wanted to make sure that the system will be fixed so such a terrible mistake can never happen again. She was devastated by her mistake. She was fired and lost her license. She suffered a lot of serious consequences.
She should not have, however, been criminally prosecuted for her mistake. She was not trying to murder the patient. This case was wrong from the very beginning, and so many of us were outraged (and terrified) by the prosecution.
We went into healthcare answering a calling — a calling to help those who are ill get better. For those of us in the ICU, we are answering a calling to care for those who are at their most vulnerable…
