Lobbying efforts for laws to finish the criminalization of medical errors are effectively underway in Tennessee, the place former nurse RaDonda Vaught was criminally convicted and sentenced to a few years of supervised probation for a deadly medicine error she made in 2017.
Nurse advocates are working with an legal professional and varied state medical organizations on the lobbying effort. The laws, dubbed “RaDonda’s Legislation,” would shield healthcare staff from prison costs for medical errors — so long as they’re open and sincere in regards to the error, in line with Tina Visant, BSN, a nurse advocate who’s concerned within the lobbying efforts and hosts the “Good Nurse Dangerous Nurse” podcast. Ms. Visant additionally helps run the Nurses March for RaDonda’s Legislation Fb group, which has greater than 13,000 members.
“It actually incentivizes individuals to be forthcoming with errors,” she advised Becker’s of the draft laws, pointing to the potential affected person security penalties of Ms. Vaught’s verdict. “I do not wish to reside in a world the place healthcare professionals are afraid to talk up after they make a mistake whereas doing their job. That is a harmful world to reside in.”
At current, the Tennessee Hospital Affiliation, Tennessee Medical Affiliation, Tennessee Nurses Affiliation and the Tennessee Pharmacists Affiliation are working collectively to draft the laws, which is able to doubtless be offered to the Tennessee legislature this fall, in line with Ms. Visant.
“We have acquired nothing however optimistic help from all the legislators that now we have spoken with, together with Cameron Sexton, who’s the speaker of the state of Tennessee Home of Representatives,” she stated.
Ms. Visant stated she and different advocates plan to spice up lobbying efforts in different states if laws is handed in Tennessee. Within the meantime, she is encouraging nurses and healthcare professionals nationwide to achieve out to their legislators in regards to the criminalization of medical errors.
“Allow them to know that you just as a constituent are involved about this, that this scares you and also you wish to see one thing completed about it,” she stated, including that folks can discover e-mail templates and different lobbying sources within the Fb group.