Nurses protest Tennessee sentence for deadly medical mistake

By TRAVIS LOLLER
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Hundreds of health care workers are protesting outside a Nashville courthouse where a former Tennessee nurse faces the possibility of prison for mistakenly causing the death of a patient. RaDonda Vaught was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide in March after she accidentally administered the wrong medication. Vaught’s attorney argued Friday that she should be eligible for judicial diversion, which would allow the charges to be expunged after probation. Her conviction is a rallying point for nurses frustrated by poor working conditions made worse by the pandemic. Some have left bedside nursing and others have left the profession altogether, saying the risk of going to prison for a mistake has made nursing intolerable.