Former Vanderbilt nurse pleads not guilty to reckless homicide in fatal medication error

A former nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., charged with reckless homicide after a medication error led to a patient's death in 2017, pleaded not guilty Feb. 20, according to The Tennessean.

The nurse, RaDonda Vaught, was accused of inadvertently injecting a patient with a fatal medication dose and was indicted Feb. 1.

The nurse's error happened in December 2017 but was not publicly revealed until a CMS inspection report was released in November 2018.

About three dozen nurses attended the court hearing to support Ms. Vaught's defense.

Ms. Vaught declined to speak with The Tennessean but posted online about the death while crowdfunding her legal defense.

"Many feel very strongly that setting the precedent that nurses should be indicted and incarcerated for inadvertent medical errors is dangerous," she wrote.

"The many details of this incident deserve to be properly reviewed and addressed so that we all have an opportunity to learn from my mistake and create changes that will ensure the safety of all future patients as well as maintaining the future honesty, integrity & safe practices of all nurses."

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