The Nurse

 

Any Nurse USA

I rarely, if ever comment on a medical injury case (an injury or death that is caused by the care received through the healthcare system).  I understand that people who work in healthcare are human, and mistakes are made.  I also understand the pain and suffering that goes along with the injury or loss of losing someone to the same people you trust to help.  But this case is getting so much attention, I would like to throw my two cents in for what its worth; recognizing I too, do not know the whole story.

Here is a short version of the story  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP3sSB4lf3Q

This past year we have hailed healthcare workers as heroes for the care of people with the deadly virus and many leaving their own families to care for the loved ones of strangers.  Now, this breaking news of a situation that happened even before the pandemic, is coming to light. 

A nurse overrides all the safety measures in place to give a patient the wrong medication.  When the nurse gives the patient the wrong medication, the patient dies.  The nurse admits her mistake, is fired, loses her license, and is treated as a criminal and now, convicted of a crime, criminal negligent homicide.   She will be put in jail as are those convicted of crimes.

In my humble opinion, putting her in prison makes no sense.  She made a mistake; she admitted her mistake and the patient can’t come back.  Treating her as a criminal helps no one.  The patient’s family wanted justice and are entitled to something.  There may have been a financial payout, I hope they get some counseling, but is this nurse a criminal? When did the laws go into effect that a medical professional with no criminal history, has committed a crime by making a mistake?  Do they teach in nursing school that if a nurse is distracted, makes a mistake, and injures or kills someone they may be convicted of a crime and serve prison time?

We know that driving over the speed limit, texting while driving, drinking and driving are all wrong and can cause the death of someone, but who isn’t guilty of at least one of these things?   Its only when someone gets caught is there punishment and yes, they can be treated as a criminal if someone is killed during any of these dangerous acts while driving.

For the past twenty-five years  with Pulse Center for Patient Safety Education & Advocacy we have been teaching the public to be more prepared as a patient but there are things, like this incident that we can never teach people to prepare for.  There must be a certain amount of trust in the people who work in the system to care for us and our families.   So, what happened in horrible, but I question it being a crime.  It would be interesting to know how many nurses are willing to admit that they too have bypassed systems and why.  How many times the problem has been reported and ignored.

How much better it would be for this nurse to be an educator for other nurses since this case will probably go away quietly and in a few years it will happen again. Instead of ten years in jail, ten years of educating others. How many nurses across the nation have done the same thing, reported a problem and felt ignored?  Do they become a “whistleblower” or keep quiet for fear of losing their job?

The family needs to come out and talk about their pain, what it was like to lose a loved one this way.  Put a face on the medical mistake, but not in the court room.  Cases like this need to be talked about so others can learn.  I’m sure in a few years we will hear of another case, and another and many we won’t hear about because the media won’t pick them up.

There is no secret that healthcare workers often don’t follow the “rules”.  One way to easily know this is just by watching the lack of handwashing.  I am very conscious of handwashing because its is one of the simplest ways to know if a healthcare worker will follow policies and with lack of hand hygiene, I’m sure there are many other opportunities to cut corners, some are just more deadly than others.

  

 

2021

Each year, in the United States alone, 7,000 to 9,000 people die as a result of a medication error. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK519065/

  

2021

Parents say Walgreens mistakenly injected them and their two kids with the Covid-19 vaccine instead of flu shot

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/13/us/parents-say-walgreens-mistake-covid-vaccine/index.html

 

2014

Hospital medication error kills patient in Oregon https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oregon-hospital-medication-error-kills-patient/

 

2011

Devastated nurse committed suicide after she accidentally gave baby fatal overdose https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2008789/Nurse-committed-suicide-medical-blunder-led-death-baby-overdosed.html