Ms. Vaught was convicted March 25 of criminally negligent homicide and abuse of an impaired adult for a fatal medication error she made in December 2017 while working as a nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.
As of March 29 at 9 a.m. CT, more than 123,000 people had signed the petition hosted on change.org. The petition comes as nurses nationwide have spoken out against the conviction, saying it sets a dangerous precedent for the profession.
“We are deeply distressed by this verdict and the harmful ramifications of criminalizing the honest reporting of mistakes,” the American Nurses Association and Tennessee Nurses Association said March 25.
The Nashville District Attorney’s Office has stood behind the conviction, saying it is not an indictment against the nursing profession or medical community but a response to Ms. Vaught’s “gross neglect.”
Ms. Vaught’s sentencing is scheduled for May 13. She faces up to eight years in prison.
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