NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A former Tennessee nurse convicted in the 2017 death of a patient due to an inadvertent drug swap was sentenced Friday to serve three years of probation and no jail time.
RaDonda Vaught, a former nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, had been found guilty in March on two countscriminally negligent homicide and abuse of a disabled adult, after a medication error contributed to the death of 75-year-old Charlene Murphey in December 2017.
Vaught received a diverted sentence Friday, which means that if he complies with the terms of his probation, the charges may be expunged from his record in the future.
A long back-and-forth on diversion-related laws took up part of the morning’s sentencing hearing. In the end, Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Jennifer Smith decided that Vaught was eligible for the program in both cases.
“It was a terrible, terrible mistake,” Smith said. “And there have been consequences for the defendant.”
Vaught winced as Smith read the sentence.
On the first floor of the Justice AA Birch Building in Nashville, applause erupted in an overflow room where a live feed of the hearing played throughout the day.
Across the street, the crowd, many of them health professionals, gathered in the park to watch and await sentencing.
The case ignited debate among the medical community regarding issues with medical errors and concerns about the nurse’s criminal liability for Murphey’s death.
Hundreds of supporters and nurses from across the country came to Nashville on Friday to rally for her. For weeks, nurses, unions and others have urged the court not to sentence Vaught to prison.
Vaught, who injected Murphey with the wrong drugShe took responsibility for her actions immediately afterward and at every interview about the circumstances.
He did it again on Friday, speaking for the first time in court.
“Saying I’m sorry doesn’t seem like enough, but you deserve to hear that and know that I’m so sorry for what happened,” Vaught told the Murphey family, who sat quietly and nodded.
Vaught then addressed Murphey’s death. “When Mrs. Murphey died, a part of me died with her,” he said.
She said it wasn’t easy coming before the Murphey family, knowing what they’ve been through over the last four and a half years, and asking the court for leniency.
But Vaught said she is no longer a nurse and poses no threat to the public.
“This ruling is bound to have an effect on how they go about both reporting medical errors, medication errors, raising concerns if they see something that they feel should be brought to someone’s attention,” Vaught said. “I am concerned that this is going to have a profound impact on patient safety.”
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Murphey fell ill on Christmas Eve 2017 and was diagnosed with a subdural hematoma at Sumner Regional Medical Center before being transferred to Vanderbilt.
Her condition seemed to improve and she was moved from the top level of the ICU, but doctors ordered a positron emission tomography (PET) scan to look for the cause of the brain hemorrhage before she could be released.
But Murphey was claustrophobic, and because he needed to lie still for the scan, he was prescribed a sedative, Versed or midazolam.
Vaught had been working as a “general aid” nurse in the ICU and was asked to retrieve the medication and administer it to Murphey, where she was waiting in the scanning area.
Vaught attempted to retrieve the medicine. But when he couldn’t find it, he disabled a ward that allowed access to more powerful drugs. Vaught accidentally extracted vercuronium, a paralytic agent, from the cabinet and injected Murphey with the drug.
When the error was realized, the patient suffered cardiac arrest and partial brain death. Murphey died on December 27, 2017.
Shortly after Murphey’s death, Vanderbilt settled a civil suit with the family.
Vaught has drawn criticism for failing to catch the bug at various points before Murphey was injected and for leaving Murphey in the care of scanning technicians and not personally monitoring his vital signs after administering the drug. However, prosecutors agreed that there was no evidence that she intended to kill Murphey.
Vaught was investigated by the nursing licensing board in the months after Murphey’s death and was not recommended at the time to lose her license or be suspended.
But nearly a year after the event, an anonymous tip, a surprise inspection, and state and federal investigations led to threats of sanctions for VUMC and a criminal charge for Vaught. After appearing before the board of nursing last year, Vaught was stripped of her license.
MORE ABOUT VAUGHT’S CHARGES:Former nurse charged with reckless homicide after sharing deadly drugs
District Attorney Glenn Funk supports the decision to prosecute.
Health professionals have spoken out with concern that the case will deter other nurses from reporting errors for fear of possible unconscionable consequences.
But the case was about the actions of one individual, Funk said after the trial.
“Now, with this conviction, he can never get his license back. That is the result Charlene Murphey’s family wanted. They wanted justice for Charlene Murphey and that is what our office achieved for them,” Funk wrote in a March statement.
Murphey’s family had largely avoided commenting on the case publicly, but issued a statement in March. In court on Friday, the family spoke about the pain and injuries they have suffered since Murphey’s death.
Murphey’s son, Michael, and two of his daughters-in-law, Rhonda and Chandra, gave tearful testimonies, through which Vaught also wept.
“The pain I’ve seen my family go through is horrible. It’s absolutely horrible,” Rhonda Murphey said. “And I try to be strong for them, but sometimes it’s hard.”
Both Michael and Chandra said that Charlene Murphey would not have wanted to go to jail for Vaught, drawing applause and cheers from supporters outside the courthouse and from a group in the courthouse overflow room.
However, Chandra Murphey said she never heard an apology from Vaught. Vaught’s crying intensified at those words.
Follow reporter Mariah Timms on Twitter @MariahTimms
Reference-www.usatoday.com