Are Zoomies a Sign of a Happy Dog or a Crazy Dog? Still, Kims death inspired other hospitals to take provider grief seriously. I have described her previously as a nurses nurse, which means, if one of us was sick, she would be our choice.. She began her career working night shifts on a pediatric/ med-surg unit for six years, later transferring to a telemetry unit where she worked for four more years. Get the help you need from a therapist near youa FREE service from Psychology Today. Still, some employees note that this doesnt address the other tragedy that took place: Kims anguish and subsequent suicide. What happens if a doctor date a patient? Mass Shooters and the Myth That Evil Is Obvious, Transforming Empathy Into Compassion: Why It Matters, 4 Ways Guilt Can Interfere With a Relationship. Subsequent blood work (for at least six months) to monitor conversion status may also be indicated. Kim said she would stay home and do laundry. "The hospital failed to ensure all patients received care in a safe setting," the report says. How Do Psychiatric Nurses / NPs Stay Safe on the Job? RELATED: How Do Psychiatric Nurses / NPs Stay Safe on the Job? It killed him. Kim did the math in her head: Thinking that there were 10 milligrams of medication in every milliliter, she drew up a 14-milliliter dose and administered it through the patients IV. 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Knowing what you value will help you build the most meaningful life possible. Vaught addressed the judge and said of Murphey, Numerous times a day I think about her., People walk up to me on the street and offer hugs and condolences and my first thought is theyre hugging me but someone else is gone because of that.. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Ive given too much calcium, the nurse, Michelle Asplin, recalled Kim having said. Many people have made similar errors with no consequences and gone on to help lots and lots of patients. This was a tragic event which we immediately self-reported to the Agency for Health Care Administration. Did the students malpractice insurance have to be used? Its never going to be enough.. But it was bad luck that your arithmetic error turned a normal dose into a deadly one. They would go through the hospital's procedures of when an accidental death happens. The drug, which is typically used during intubations, acts as a muscle relaxant and paralytic. Sustaining a needlestick injury or other type of exposure is scary. And that doesn't count excess morbidity (illness extended because of medical errors.). In addition, the report says, the pharmacy wasn't able to show any justification for storing pancuronium in that particular area of the hospital. One ER nurse in Texas, Aleece Ellison, told the Associated Press that she drove to Nashville to let the world know that criminalizing a mistake, an honest mistake, is not a direction we want to go in. She said Vaughts sentence could impact whether she stays in the field. The court finds that there was no sustained intent to violate the law and that the defendant is highly amenable to correction, Smith said. Sep 20, 2007. Of course, you might want to slow down so you can be extra careful. (Before my time but) apparently at my current place of work a student killed a patient by pushing oral liquid augmentin through a patient's PICC line instead of Gtube. But the most common thread was that residents just didnt know what to do. A Tennessee nurse was sentenced to probation on Friday after she was convicted of criminally negligent homicide for mistakenly killing a patient by giving her the wrong medication. Especially with millions more Americans who will now have to be cared for because of ObamaCare, there will be a nursing shortage. About ten years ago, a patient at a Maine hospital was accidentally given ten times the normal dose of epinephrine. "He said the packaging looked the same and he grabbed the wrong package," Marc Smith recalled. Vaught was ordered to collect the Versed from a computerized medication cabinet but grabbed vecuronium instead, leading to Murphey becoming brain dead. Once reported to the provider, several things may happen at once. PLEASE NOTE: The contents of this website are for informational purposes only. We are no longer supporting IE (Internet Explorer) as we strive to provide site experiences for browsers that support new web standards and security practices. The groups founder said what happened to Vaught couldve happened to anyone in such a demanding job. Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered right to your inbox. The court finds that there was no sustained intent to violate the law and that the defendant is highly amenable to correction, Smith said. RegisteredNursing.org does not guarantee the accuracy or results of any of this information. RaDonda Vaught, 38, was convicted by a jury Friday of criminal negligent homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult after a three-day trial in Nashville closely watched by medical professionals, The Tennessean reported. Its really played a big toll on me, Michael said on the stand. Knowing what you value will help you build the most meaningful life possible. Some researchers estimate they're the third leading cause of death in the United States. Never got fired for making a mistake although my boss was quite upset . One of the moms of a former patient talked about how Kim cared for her daughter when she had a transplant, how she made it a fun time for her, she said. We all make mistakes and you, like all of us, will probably, unavoidably, make others in the future. As stated earlier, an exposure can be very stressful and scary, affecting not just the patient and nurse but the nurse's family as well. According to the Tennessean, Vaught testified at the hearing that she failed to notice the mixup because she became complacent on a busy day. For sharps/needlestick injuries, nurses should immediately wash the area with soap and water and "milk" the area to encourage bleeding. We are no longer supporting IE (Internet Explorer), This Is the Best State for Work-Life Balance, Say Hello to the New Quiet Quitting: Rage-Applying, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. A Tennessee nurse was sentenced to probation on Friday after she was convicted of criminally negligent homicide for mistakenly killing a patient by giving her the wrong medication. That was April 3, 2011. Vaught, a former nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, was charged with reckless homicide after a medication error killed a patient. After the ruling, Vaught broke down in tears, resting her head on the defense table and shaking. The drug, which is typically used during intubations, acts as a muscle relaxant and paralytic. They made horrible, harmful mistakes. Vaught admitted to the error and a coroner later found Murpheys manner of death to be accidental, The Tennessean previously reported. ", Prior to the accident, Marc Smith said his father lived independently with his wife. However, reporting should not be delayed treatment should begin immediately to help prevent transmission of bloodborne pathogens. Answer (1 of 6): Nurses don't prescribe pain killers, Nurse practitioners work under the supervision of doctors and can write scripts for some medications but most state license regulations with which I am familiar require physicians to write the order for pain killers. In some cases, the patient is contacted and blood work ordered to check Hepatitis B and C status as well as HIV. This idea, on its own, is controversial. In nurse's trial, witness says hospital bears 'heavy' responsibility for patient death Vaught, 38, of Bethpage, Tenn., was arrested in 2019 and charged with reckless homicide and gross neglect. More so if this occurred. Can a nurse go to prison if they accidently gave a patient the wrong drug and it killed them, say they couldn't get to sleep the night before and they were shattered? Your school's malpractice insurance would cover you. This ruling will have a long-lasting negative impact on the profession.. Lyn estimates they were gone for about an hour and a half. But Vaught accidentally grabbed vecuronium, a powerful paralyzer,. Criminal charges for a medical error are unusual, patient safety experts say. RaDonda Vaught, 37, is facing a reckless homicide charge following 75-year-old Charlene Murphey's death in December 2017. Immediately, Kim was isolated from her patient, her coworkers, and the hospital where shed worked for two dozen years. Medics see it. RaDonda Vaught appears at a court hearing with her attorney, Peter Strianse, in February. The Smith family originally filed a wrongful death lawsuit in February against the hospital's parent company and the pharmacist, but they recently amended their complaint to include the nurse and the hospital. Nurses should immediately report exposures to a supervisor. Health-care workers can reach a peer responder at any hour of any day. There was no course in medical school that helped them think about what it means to make a mistake in a profession where a patients life can be at stake. Some are voicing concern that the move sets a precedent that may actually make hospitals less safe by making people hesitant to report errors. Also, the patient must give consent to check blood work. Murpheys son, Michael, and two of her daughters-in-law, Rhonda and Chandra, shed tears on the stand, before the ex-nurse testified herself. Whats happened here is that health care has been completely changed, founder Janie Harvey Garner told the Associated Press. "From our understanding, [my father] wasn't hooked up to alarms, or if he was, nobody was there to hear them," he said. She was questioning her self-worth.. Im sorry that I havent said it to you sooner. Around 9:30 a.m. on September 14, 2010, a doctor instructed Kim Hiatt to administer 140 milligrams of calcium chloride to her patient, a frail nine-month-old infant. During that time, Kim hanged herself in the basement. RISE takes barely any personal information from callers. Their ghosts creep into exam rooms, and seeing new. Its hard to justify in your budget. Also i know all students are terrified of killing someone by looking at Memaw the wrong way but in most cases you'd either have to be trying or be extremely negligent to kill a patient, Oh wow! ", "The nurse said my dad had coded. But it doesnt take away accountability, and I dont think that she feels she should be accountable. Its really played a big toll on me, Michael said on the stand. All trademarks are the property of their respective trademark holders. This situation will never be repeated by Ms. Vaught., This was a terrible, terrible mistake, Smith continued, and there have been consequences to the defendant. She labeled the patients name band and syringe with the time and size of the dosage. She was acquitted of reckless homicide. [Kim] called me on her way home. He remained in a vegetative state until he died a month later. What Happens If a Nurse Gets a Needlestick or Other Type of Exposure? In addition, the hospital has since removed pancuronium from all nursing areas except for the operation room, where the medication will only be handled by anesthesiologists. The patient died five days after the error. Her remorse during the case was of the attitude, in my opinion as an investigator, that she felt by telling the truth it would all go away, and that she should be rewarded for being honest., And I appreciate honesty. She was acquitted of reckless homicide. Some nurses feel like they "failed" by experiencing a needlestick or other type of exposure, playing the scenario back to find out how things could have been done differently. Saying Im sorry doesnt seem like enough but you deserve to hear that and you deserve to know that I am very sorry for what happened, Vaught added. Likewise, sexual or romantic relationships between a physician and a former patient may be unduly influenced by the previous physician-patient relationship. For example, HR departments use nurses to recruit other nurses. Everyone makes errors. What RaDonda Vaughts conviction means is if a nurse makes a medication error, rather than this being an administrative issue as it has been for decades, nurses can face criminal charges such as neglect, assault, and homicide, Show Me Your Stethoscope said in a statement. Vaught addressed the judge and said of Murphey, Numerous times a day I think about her., People walk up to me on the street and offer hugs and condolences and my first thought is theyre hugging me but someone else is gone because of that.. 5 Spiritual Practices That Increase Well-Being. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Rather, creating a place where health-care providers are not just allowed but also encouraged to discuss their mistakes is a huge mental leap for a system that routinely demands secrecy. Dear Marty, I'm a registered nurse and I killed a patient by accident. "Basically we don't want this to happen to anyone else. Specifically, the nurse "failed to look and read what medication he was taking failed to scan to determine the right count for the medication, failed to match the patient's ID with the scanned medication.". Kim discussed the dosage with another nurse and worked through her math. Vaught admitted to the error and a former patient may be unduly influenced by the previous physician-patient relationship suicide. The future consent to check blood work ( for at least six months ) to conversion. With his wife voicing concern that the move sets a precedent that may actually hospitals! A court hearing with her attorney, Peter Strianse, in February people... 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