Ex-nurse sentenced to probation in patient medication death

By TRAVIS LOLLER
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A former Tennessee nurse whose medication error killed a patient has been sentenced to three years of probation. Hundreds of health care workers rallied outside the Nashville courthouse Friday during the sentencing of RaDonda Vaught. They say criminalizing honest hospital mistakes will lead to more deaths in hospitals because health care workers won’t be as forthcoming. Vaught apologized to relatives of the victim, Charlene Murphey, and several said she wouldn’t have wanted to see her jailed. Vaught was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect of an impaired adult. Many nurses who blame systemic problems and say the risk of prison has made nursing intolerable.