A former Tennessee nurse was found guilty after injecting an elderly patient with a drug that stopped her breathing
Stephanie Amador/The Tennessean via AP, Pool
- Former nurse RaDonda Vaught was convicted on Friday of criminally negligent homicide and abuse of an impaired adult.
- In 2017, Vaught injected 75-year-old Charlene Murphey with vecuronium instead of Versed.
- The drug mixup likely caused Murphey to stop breathing, prosecutors argued in court.
A jury on Friday found a former nurse guilty of criminally negligent homicide and abuse of an impaired adult after a 2017 incident in which she injected an elderly patient with a drug that led to her death.
RaDonda Vaught, from Nashville, Tennessee, injected 75-year-old Charlene Murphey in December 2017 with vecuronium instead of a sedative called Versed, prosecutors said, according to an account of the trial from The Tennessean.
Murphey, who was admitted into the Vanderbilt University Medical Center for a brain bleed, died after the injection, which likely stopped her breathing, prosecutors argued.
"This wasn't an accident or mistake as it's been claimed. There were multiple chances for RaDonda Vaught to just pay attention," Assistant District Attorney Chad Jackson said during closing arguments.
Prosecutors claimed Vaught pulled the wrong medication from a dispensing cabinet, The Tennessean reported.
"RaDonda Vaught probably did not intend to kill Miss Murphey, but she made a knowing choice," Assistant District Attorney Brittani Flatt said during her trial.
A person without any prior convictions who is found guilty of negligent homicide in the state of Tennessee can face up to two years in prison, NPR reported. Her sentencing is scheduled for May 13.
Vaught has for years taken responsibility for the mixup, saying prior to the verdict that she had "zero regrets about telling the truth."
"I am just relieved that this portion of the process is over," Vaught said after the verdict came out, The Tennessean reported. "I hope that [the members of Murphey's family] are also just as relieved to be moving away from this process that has been held up in the legal system for four and a half years. I hope that they are able to find peace with the resolution of this process."
The American Nurses Association on Friday issued a statement condemning the verdict, saying it sets a "dangerous precedent" in which "the honest reporting of mistakes" gets criminalized.
"The nursing profession is already extremely short-staffed, strained and facing immense pressure — an unfortunate multi-year trend that was further exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic," the statement said. "This ruling will have a long-lasting negative impact on the profession."