Nurses protest Tennessee sentence for deadly medical mistake
ABC News
Nurses have traveled from around the country to protest outside the courthouse where a former Tennessee nurse will be sentenced for causing the death of a patient
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Nurses traveled from around the country to protest on Friday outside the courthouse where a former Tennessee nurse faced up to eight years in prison for mistakenly causing the death of a patient.
RaDonda Vaught was found guilty in March of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult after she accidentally administered the wrong medication.
The maximum sentence is unlikely given her lack of prior offenses. A presentencing report rated her risk of reoffending as “low.” Still, her conviction has become a rallying point for many nurses who were already fed up with poor working conditions exacerbated by the pandemic.
Some have left bedside nursing for administrative positions while others have left the profession altogether, saying the risk of going to prison for a mistake has made nursing intolerable.
