NASHVILLE — A former hospital nurse in Tennessee has been indicted on accusations that she accidentally gave a drug used in executions to a patient who then died.
News outlets cite a statement from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation saying 35-year-old Radonda Leanne Vaught was indicted Friday on reckless homicide and impaired adult abuse charges.
The statement says the former Vanderbilt University Medical Center nurse’s actions were responsible for the death of 75-year-old Charlene Murphey.
An investigation report released in November by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services says the error happened in 2017. It says the nurse intended to give her the sedative Versed but instead injected vecuronium, which is used to keep patients still and is used by some states including Tennessee as part of the mixture to execute death row inmates.
It’s unclear if Vaught has a lawyer who could comment.
