RaDonda Vaught, the Tennessee nurse who was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide after giving a patient a paralyzing drug instead of a sedative, has been sentenced to three years of probation.
The 38-year-old’s sentencing came Friday as Davidson County criminal court Judge Jennifer Smith gave her a judicial diversion arranging for her conviction to be expunged after the probation, per NPR.
Back in 2017, Vaught gave 75-year-old patient Charlene Murphey vecuronium instead of Versed, prompting her to suffer from a brain bleed days later.
The fatal miscalculation and resulting charges have brought a number of nurses outside the court defending and rallying behind Vaught. The judge added on Friday that “nothing that happens here today can ease that loss” of the Murphey family.
“Miss Vaught is well aware of the seriousness of the offense,” Smith said. “She credibly expressed remorse in this courtroom.”
Smith pointed to Vaught’s lack of a criminal record, and called what she did a “terrible mistake and there have been consequences to the defendant,” including her never practicing nursing again. Protesters outside the courtroom cheered when the sentence was read aloud.
Charlene Murphey’s son Michael Murphey said during the sentencing that his mom was “a very forgiving person” and would not want Vaught to go to prison, despite Murphey’s husband arguing for the “maximum” sentence. “My dad suffers every day from this,” Michael said. “He goes out to the graveyard three to four times a week and just sits out there and cries.”
During the sentencing, Vaught faced the Murphey family and apologized for both the death and the attention of the public campaign by fellow nurses over the trial.
“You don’t deserve this,” Vaught said. “I hope it does not come across as people forgetting your loved one. … I think we are just in the middle of systems that don’t understand one another.”
Janis Peterson, a retired ICU nurse from Massachusetts, attended a protest and said she could have easily been in Vaught’s shoes. “And if it was me, and I looked out that window and saw 1,000 people who supported me, I’d feel better,” she said. “Because for every one of those 1,000, there are probably 10 more who support her but couldn’t come.”
