Four years ago, nurse RaDonda Vaught accidentally administered the wrong drug to one of her patients. Vaught was supposed to give her patient Versed, which is a sedative meant for an MRI scan. Vaught instead gave her patient vecuronium, which is a paralyzing drug. The drug halted the patient’s breathing, leaving her permanently damaged and brain dead. Her patient was seventy-five years old.

Now this week, she is being charged with homicide and felony-status abuse. If convicted, she could be sentenced to 12 years in prison. Experts say a case like this is rare because the prosecution does not accuse her of intentionally murdering her patient nor do they accuse her of being impaired by drugs or alcohol at the time of the mistake. Cases like this are usually not tried as homicide but are handled by licensing boards or smaller courts.

Nurses all over the state of Tennessee are outraged by the case. Nurses are already exhausted and overworked due to the pandemic, and therefore it is easier right now than it has been ever before for nurses and other professionals to make a mistake. Others however, argue that her mistake was exceedingly careless because she used an automated machine to get the drug and the drug itself is labeled as a paralytic.