Vanderbilt ex-nurse found guilty on 2 charges

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A jury on Friday convicted a former Nashville nurse of reckless murder and impaired grownup abuse  after she was accused of inadvertently injecting a affected person with a lethal dose of a paralyzing drug.

The jury deliberated for about 4 hours in a trial intently watched by nurses and medical professionals from throughout the nation, many nervous that the case might set a precedent for medical errors resulting in prison expenses.

RaDonda Vaught, 38, was indicted in 2019 on two expenses – reckless murder and impaired grownup abuse – within the loss of life of Charlene Murphey at Vanderbilt College Medical Heart.

Murphey, 75, died on Dec. 27, 2017, after being injected with the incorrect drug.

‘ZERO REGRETS ABOUT TELLING THE TRUTH’:Ex-nurse RaDonda Vaught speaks out forward of responsible verdict

Murphey was purported to obtain a dose of Versed, a sedative, however was as a substitute injected with vecuronium, which left her unable to breathe, prosecutors have stated.

“RaDonda Vaught most likely didn’t intend to kill Ms. Murphey, however she made a realizing alternative,” Assistant District Lawyer Brittani Flatt stated Thursday in the course of the state’s closing arguments.

Prosecutors alleged Vaught consciously disregarded warnings and dangers when she pulled the incorrect medicine from an digital allotting cupboard that required her to seek for the drug by identify, and was subsequently culpable in Murphey’s loss of life.

“This wasn’t an accident or mistake because it’s been claimed. There have been a number of probabilities for RaDonda Vaught to simply listen,” Assistant District Lawyer Chad Jackson stated in a rebuttal throughout closing arguments.

Whereas Vaught’s protection acknowledged the tragic nature of Murphey’s loss of life, her attorneys argued that her mistake was not a aware, prison act of murder.

“What struck me most about RaDonda Vaught’s interviews was not her trustworthy recitation of the details … however her real fear and concern about Charlene Murphey and concern for her household,” protection lawyer Peter Strianse stated in the course of the protection’s closing assertion Thursday. “She was not fascinated with herself.”

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Vaught was stripped of her license by the Tennessee Board of Nursing in July after the board initially selected to not examine the loss of life.

Murphey’s household sat within the gallery all week, as did a group of nurses and different medical professionals throughout the aisle gathered in help of Vaught. 

The American Nurses Affiliation on Wednesday launched a press release of concern the trial might set a worrying precedent and discourage nurses from reporting errors. They nervous the development might finally hinder affected person security.

Among the many ultimate jury, made up of six males and 6 ladies, was a training registered nurse and a former respiratory therapist. They elected the director of a nonprofit that works in prisons to be their foreperson. Davidson County Prison Court docket Choose Jennifer Smith heard the case

Comply with Mariah Timms on Twitter @MariahTimms.