A nurse who was found guilty of homicide after her 75-year-old patient died when they received the wrong drug has been sentenced to three years of supervised probation.
RaDonda Vaught, 38, had faced up to eight years behind bars after her patient Charlene Murphey died when she was administered with a paralysis drug instead of a sedative at Vanderbilt University Health Center in 2017.
But Judge Jennifer Smith diverted the sentence today, saying Vaught had made a ‘terrible, terrible mistake’ and ‘there have been consequences to the defendant’. Vaught could now have all charges removed from her record.
Hundreds of nurses gathered outside the Davidson County Criminal Court in Nashville, Tennessee, erupted into cheers, sobs and hugs after hearing the sentence. They had traveled from across the nation to support Vaught, with many wearing purple t-shirts reading ‘#IAmRaDonda’ and brandished placards that said ‘this would not be happening if her initials were M.D.’ and ‘mistake is not murder’.
During the protest they heard rallying speeches from nurses, supporters and even Ms Murphey’s son who claimed his mother would not want the nurse to be imprisoned.
Vaught had been found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult in March, but innocent of the more serious charge of reckless homicide.
Her defense today requested a judicial diversion to move towards scrubbing the charges, pointing out that she was genuinely remorseful and had no prior convictions.
But the prosecution argued the charges could not be diverted, saying the judge should take Vaught’s attitude into consideration. They did not oppose sentencing Vaught to probation.
Vaught’s plight has galvanized nurses across America, who fear they could also be criminalized for making a mistake at work. Many are already struggling against crippling staff shortages and poor working conditions following the COVID-19 pandemic, with some having already quit the profession saying the risk of going to prison for a mistake was intolerable.
RaDonda Vaught, 38, a former nurse, was sentenced to three years probation on Friday at Davidson County Criminal Court in Nashville, Tennessee. She is pictured above after hearing the verdict. She had faced up to eight years behind bars for criminally neglect homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult
Before the sentencing was delivered Ms Vaught broke down in tears as she apologized to the family of patient Charlene Murphey, 75, who died after receiving the wrong drug. She said that words will never fully express her ‘remorse and sorrow’
Hundreds of nurses who had gathered outside Davidson County Criminal Court in Nashville, Tennessee, erupted into cheers, tears and hugs today when they heard the sentence (pictured). They had traveled from all across the country to protest against a nurse being sentenced to time in prison for a mistake at work
Hundreds of nurses protested outside the courthouse in Nashville, Tennessee, today as former nurse RaDonda Vaught, 38, faced up to eight years in prison. They are pictured before the sentence was read out
Vaught’s supporters are pictured smiling and bursting into tears as they react to the sentencing at the court in Tennessee
Judge Jennifer Smith (pictured today at the court in Nashville, Tennessee) diverted the sentence today, saying Vaught had made a ‘terrible, terrible mistake’ and ‘there have been consequences to the defendant’.
Pictured above is victim Charlene Murphey (left), who died after being injected with a paralysis drug instead of a sedative. On the right is her son Michael Murphey and her son’s father’s wife Chandra Murphey. The family said Ms Murphey’s death brought family life to an end in a ‘split second’ for them, adding that they still had her Christmas presents in the loft
Judge Smith said Vaught would receive a criminal diversion, a way for first-time offenders to have their charges dropped and their records expunged after successfully completing probation.
Speaking before the sentencing the victim’s son Michael said: ‘Knowing my mom, the way my mom was and stuff, she would not want to see her [the nurse] serve jail time. That’s just mom. Mom was a very forgiving person’.
His view contrasted with his father, who wanted the nurse to serve a prison sentence.
Before sentencing, Vaught broke down as she apologized to Ms Murphey’s family saying that words will never fully express her ‘remorse and sorrow’.
‘I’ll be haunted by my role in her untimely passing,’ she said, ‘she did not deserve that’.
Vaught also apologized that allegations of systemic failures in the hospital and the danger of criminalizing mistakes by healthcare workers took attention away from the victim.
‘I’m sorry that this public outpouring of support for me has caused you to continue to live this over and over,’ she told them. ‘No one has forgotten about your loved one, no one has forgotten about Ms Murphey. We’re all horribly, horribly sorry for what happened.’
Supporters of Vaught including the American Organization of Nursing Leadership — which represents nursing leaders — welcomed the decision today.
They said that tragic incidents that happen during medical care ‘should not be criminalized’. They warned that when errors do occur hospitals and health systems need open lines of communication to identify and understand the series of events that led to the accident to prevent it from happening again.
Nurses that turned up to support Vaught included emergency room worker of 14 years Aleece Ellison, from Texas, who said she broke down crying when she heard the nurse was found guilty. ‘This could be me,’ she said.
She added to reporters that they were coming to Nashville to ‘let the world know that criminalizing a mistake, an honest mistake, is not a direction we want to go in’.
Janie Reed, who drove over from Memphis, said she became a nurse practitioner several years ago because ‘bedside was getting dangerous… There were never enough nurses’.
‘I usually don’t do things like this,’ she said of the protest. ‘I’m just so passionate about it. Nurses are going to go to jail and more people are going to die because they won’t report their errors.’
Supporter Tammy from Winchester, Tennessee, revealed she was once the only nurse responsible for 36 Covid patients. She said: ‘Medical errors happen. We’re human! Now this is going to make medical errors not be reported.’
Ms Murphey fell ill on Christmas Eve in 2017 and was diagnosed with a subdural hematoma — where blood collects between the skull and surface of the brain — leading to her being transferred to Vanderbilt.
But the patient was claustrophobic, and prescribed the sedative Versed or midazolam to ensure she would lie still for a scan of her brain.
At the time Vaught was working in the hospital’s ICU as a ‘help all’ nurse. She was asked to retrieve the medication for Ms Murphey but accidentally retrieved much more powerful paralyzing agent vercuronium.
The patient then suffered a cardiac arrest and partial brain death, before dying on December 27, 2017, which was two days after Christmas Day.
Vaught admitted to the mistake as soon as she realized what had happened and, after a lengthy legal process, was handed two charges linked to the death.
Nurses pictured outside the court house. They clapped and cheered when the verdict was read out. Hundreds came from all across the nation to protest against a nurse being imprisoned for making a mistake at work
A woman supporting Vaught is pictured crying as she listens to a broadcast of the sentencing hearing inside the court in Nashville, Tennessee earlier today
They held up placards proclaiming that they were heroes in 2020 but felons in 2022, turning up to protest against being imprisoned for a mistake made at work. (Photos in Nashville, Tennessee)
Nurses heard speeches from colleagues, supporters and even a member of the victim’s family saying their mother would not want the nurse to be imprisoned. They are awaiting a sentence later today
Speaking at the Friday hearing, Mr Murphey revealed the toll his mother’s death had taken on the whole family.
He said: ‘I was at work when all this took place, so I didn´t get to say bye to my mom. I didn´t get to give her a hug or a kiss. My dad suffers every day from this. He goes to the graveyard one or two times a week. He goes out there and cries. He’s 83 years old.’
His father’s wife, Chandra Murphey, also testified Friday about the impact the death had on the family. She said: ‘We used to always get together for family dinners. We did so much together as a family, and it just ended in a split second for us. We still have her Christmas presents in our attic wrapped.’
Lawyer Randall Kinnard told DailyMail.com that this was an ‘unusual’ case as these sorts of allegations are usually settled as civil claims.
He added: ‘Usually there is some sort of allegation by the state or whoever is prosecuting her of either an intentional act or something that amounts to gross negligence or reckless conduct.
‘Certainly, this nurse never intended for this to happen. You can’t prove she meant for this to happen, obviously.’
The hospital had recently updated an electronic records system, which led to delays in retrieving medications from the automatic drug dispensing cabinets. There was also no scanner in the imaging area for Vaught to scan the medication against the patient’s ID bracelet.
Interviewed after the verdict in March, Vaught said she was relieved to have a resolution after 4 1/2 years and hopes Murphey’s family is relieved as well.
‘Ms. Murphey’s family is at the forefront of my thoughts every day,’ she said. ‘You don’t do something that impacts a family like this, that impacts a life, and not carry that burden with you.’
Murphey had been admitted to the neurological intensive care unit on December 24, 2017, after suffering from a brain bleed.
Two days later, doctors trying to determine the cause of the bleed, ordered a PET scan to check for cancer. Murphey was claustrophobic and was prescribed Versed for her anxiety, according to testimony.
When Vaught could not find Versed in an automatic drug dispensing cabinet, she used an override and accidentally grabbed vecuronium instead.
An expert witness for the state argued that Vaught violated the standard of care expected of nurses. In addition to grabbing the wrong medicine, she failed to read the name of the drug, did not notice a red warning on the top of the medication, and did not stay with the patient to check for an adverse reaction, said nurse legal consultant Donna Jones.
Leanna Craft, a nurse educator at the neuro-ICU unit where Vaught worked, testified that it was common for nurses at that time to override the system in order to get drugs.
The hospital had recently updated an electronic records system, which led to delays in retrieving medications from the automatic drug dispensing cabinets. There was also no scanner in the imaging area for Vaught to scan the medication against the patient’s ID bracelet.
Assistant District Attorney Chadwick Jackson told the jury in closing arguments, ‘RaDonda Vaught acted recklessly, and Charlene Murphey died as a result of that. RaDonda Vaught had a duty of care to Charlene Murphey and RaDonda Vaught neglected that. … The immutable fact of this case is that Charlene Murphey is dead because RaDonda Vaught couldn´t pay attention to what she was doing.’
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