(READ) Criminal trial begins for ex-Vanderbilt nurse who made fatal drug error

The following is an excerpt from Becker's Healthcare Hospital Review.

Jury selection began March 21 for the trial of RaDonda Leanne Vaught, a former nurse facing criminal charges over a fatal medication error, according to CBS affiliate WTVF. 

In 2019, Ms. Vaught was indicted on charges of reckless homicide and impaired adult abuse after inadvertently injecting a 75-year-old patient with a fatal medication two years earlier at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.

Nurses nationwide have expressed concerns about what a conviction could mean for the profession, especially at a time when so many nurses are overwhelmed, exhausted and likely more prone to making accidental errors, according to Kaiser Health News.

Ms. Vaught has acknowledged her mistake, but said other factors contributed to the error.

In a 2021 medical disciplinary hearing, she said Vanderbilt encouraged nurses to override safeguards on medication cabinets because of a computer program, which she claims contributed to the error. 

Vanderbilt fired Ms. Vaught in January 2018, and the Tennessee Board of Nursing stripped her of her license in 2021.

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