Hi All,
Upcoming events for my new book, Healing—pub date April 12—are now set! I have five virtual events, meaning anyone from anywhere can attend, and my in-person events are in: Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Washington D.C., New Jersey and Boston. First event is virtual, on April 12, at Powell’s bookstore in Portland. Find the full schedule on my website: TheresaBrownRN.com. Remember also that you can pre-order Healing.
Party with me in Pittsburgh!
My launch event here in Pittsburgh, on April 18 at City of Asylum, is in-person and virtual—how cool is that? I am hosting a low-key party after the CoA event for anyone who wants to stay, get your copy of Healing signed, and celebrate. If you’re local, please come. Proof of vaccination is required, at least right now. I wanted to have a bigger party, but that didn’t seem wise given the uncertainty around Covid. Maybe we can have a big blow out for the paperback.
A Serious and Sad Topic
Tennessee Nurse RaDonda Vaught is on trial right now for “reckless homicide and felony abuse,” NPR reported. Nurse Vaught mistakenly got a paralyzing drug called vecuronium out of a computerized drug dispenser, rather than Versed, the sedative she needed. She injected her patient with the vecuronium and the patient died.
It’s an undeniable tragedy and Vaught’s nursing license has been revoked, which seems appropriate. However, the filing of criminal charges against her is giving many nurses pause, because even though Vaught’s mistake directly caused the patient’s death, multiple system errors made her mistake possible. She got the vecuronium by using an override function, but overrides were required because the hospital’s electronic record system was being overhauled. The override function worked when only the first two letters of any drug were typed into the system—not enough to guarantee access to a unique drug. And, nurses on twitter are saying that Vaught had been pulled from her usual floor and wasn’t familiar with the drugs and procedures used on the hospital floor where she was working.
The reason many nurses find this story scary is that we all know how potentially easy it is to make mistakes, including serious mistakes, when we are overworked, always rushing, and constantly interrupted. Add in the challenges of technology and software designed for billing and inventory, but not for ease of clinicians’ use, and mistakes become close to inevitable.
In Healing I talk about needing compassion for patients, but also for health care workers. This theme came up often during Covid when burnout was reported at record levels among health care workers. But Vaught being accused of a felony with a potential for serious jail time suggests there will be no mercy for nurses who fail even when the system does not protect against failure nearly as much as it should or could. That’s a lot of pressure to put on already exhausted stretched-too-thin nurses.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this. If you feel like it, enter a comment below.
Growing Things
Last time I got a haircut I mentioned how much I wanted to grow a jade plant. My stylist, the lovely Beth Vermillion, owner of Evolve Salon, said she had just replanted a number of jade babies and I could have one. The picture below is of me with my new plant. It feels a little like having Baby Groot in the house, and so far it’s (he’s?) doing well.
Hugs—Spring is coming!
Theresa
The mistake Vaught made was not hers alone. If she is prosecuted for criminal violation, the hospital that made the mistake possible should also face absolutely equivalent criminal charges. No "deal-making" allowed unless Vaught is the first beneficiary of any such deal.
I wish I could come hang out with you in Pittsburgh, Theresa!
The Vaught case provides an interesting contrast with the recent manslaughter conviction of Kim Potter for mistaking her gun for a taser and killing an unarmed Black man, Daunte Wright. Potter was convicted but given a comparatively light sentence--two years. I think both the conviction and the light sentence struck the appropriate balance of justice and mercy.
Vaught, unlike Potter, was thrown into a chaotic situation she had not been trained for. (Potter was in fact training another officer, and she instructed the officer to pull Wright over so he could “practice” a roadside stop. Wright’s only violation was that he had one of those pine-tree air fresheners hanging from his rear view mirror. The stop was completely illegitimate from the beginning.) In both cases, design problems contributed to the deaths--the faulty computer in Vaught’s case, and the way Tasers are designed like guns in Potter’s.
But to me the most salient difference is that Potter was irrationally afraid of Wright because he was Black, and instead of assessing the situation appropriately and letting him drive away (they had all his info--they could have called in backup or picked him up later), she escalated. Even a Taser was too much force for the situation, let alone a gun. Vaught simply made an error. And this is why, in spite of the similarities between the two cases, I am glad Potter was convicted, and I hope Vaught gets off.