Experts Pile on the Case of Convicted Nurse

The case of convicted former nurse RaDonda Vaught has created a cascade of opinions but are the experts right?

Let’s consider a scenario:

A 30-year-old is driving down a residential street. He picks up his cell phone to text his wife. As he does this, his vehicle drifts off the right shoulder and strikes a 75-year-old grandmother who was out for a walk. The victim, an active and beloved member of the local community, later dies in the hospital.

On March 25, a Tennessee jury convicted former nurse RaDonda Vaught on charges of negligent homicide and gross neglect of an adult, as a result of a medication error in 2017. She had been charged with reckless homicide, but was acquitted on that charge. Negligent homicide is a lesser included offense. In Tennessee, the homicide charge carries up to two years in prison. The gross neglect charge carries up to six years.

The press and professional associations immediately seized upon the verdict, making a wide range of speculations and predictions. Experts weighed in, largely decrying the entire process as unjust. Even institutional experts, such as those with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) weighed in, supporting Vaught, but more importantly, claiming the verdict was “a travesty of justice that threatens patient safety.”

Unfortunately, these analyses do not recognize many important considerations:

Let’s now return to the initial situation of the driver killing a beloved grandmother. Who would advocate not trying this driver criminally? Who would petition the governor for clemency? Who would start a “GoFundMe” page to try to assure his or her speedy release?

Let’s consider now another situation very similar to Vaught, but also on the layman’s side. How many laypeople would reach into a medicine cabinet at home, pull out a potent painkiller, grind up the tablet, mix it with water, and give it to a child, thinking that children’s acetaminophen was unexpectedly a tablet? How many would subsequently advocate for leniency for the person who has just poisoned his own child?

Shouldn’t society be permitted to expect a higher degree of knowledge, skill, and competence from professionals?