On Friday morning, former Vanderbilt nurse RaDonda Vaught learns whether she will go to jail for a deadly medical error. And nurses from around the country plan to protest outside the courthouse.
Vaught’s felony conviction has been felt by nurses coast to coast. They say overriding an automated pharmacy cabinet, as Vaught did, happens all the time. And while they know mixing up medications that result in the death of a patient could mean losing their nursing license, prison time didn’t seem possible until now.
“She lost her license. She’s pretty much done in this career,” says Kelly Lin, a traveling ICU nurse originally from Knoxville. “You lost everything already. Like, what else? Your freedom? It’s just kinda wild. That’s why we’re all really caught up in this case.”
During Vaught’s trial, nurses streamed the proceedings and afterward have rallied on her behalf on TikTok. She could face up to eight years in prison, though the decision is up to Davidson County criminal court Judge Jennifer Smith.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center has continued to decline requests for comment, though Vaught’s defense has argued that the hospital should share some of the blame.
A spokesperson for District Attorney Glenn Funk says the prosecutor has not made any recommendations on sentencing.
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