Putting Nurse Guilty Verdict in Proper Perspective

Two days ago I published my original thinking on the guilty verdict of former nurse RaDonda Vaught.  Since then I've done more reading and some talking with folks.  Read plenty of stories and social media posts claiming this verdict is the death knell for the disclosure movement and patient safety efforts. Other voices claim nurses will not only keep more secrets but many nurses will potentially quit or retire early because of this case.  A lot of doom and gloom from one case in Tennessee. 

Let's step back, take a breath, and think about some numbers.

According to various studies in the medical literature, medical errors kill anywhere from 45,000 to 250,000 Americans annually. In fact, the well-publicized Makary/Daniel 2016 BMJ study asserted that medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States.  Moreover, an untold number of Americans -- tens of thousands -- are injured annually by medical errors.  Yet, from all this carnage and death, how many criminal prosecutions of healthcare professionals for medical errors over the last 10 to 20 years can you remember? 

Prior to the Vaught case, we had the infamous Dr. Duntsch (aka Dr. Death), and nobody was sad to see him go up the river for life.  Then there was Eric Cropp, the pharmacist who was convicted and jailed for the overdose death of Emily Jerry; Emily's Dad -- Chris Jerry -- has become a tireless patient safety advocate and trainer.  Then....I struggle to find much else on Google.  There are scattered cases of intentional harm caused by doctors and nurses, and, again, no one is sad when those folks are convicted and sentenced.  But not much else.  The PR person in me says the Vaught case was national news because criminal prosecution of healthcare professionals is an extremely rare event. 

Indeed, there are hundreds of thousands of cases of medical errors resulting in death or injury annually in the United States, yet I can count on my hands the number of resultant criminal prosecutions and still have fingers left over!  And this case is supposed to be the death of disclosure and patient safety?  How will the Vaught case -- truly an outlier -- be the death of patient safety when the thousands upon thousands of med-mal lawsuits and complaints to state regulators have not killed patient safety and disclosure?  Quite the contrary, med-mal lawsuits and other "acts of revenge" have spurred the push towards transparency, honesty, and accountability in healthcare.  As I wrote earlier this week, disclosure offers a chance to re-establish trust with stakeholders (the public, the local bar association (which includes state’s attorneys), the media, state regulators, etc) and discard the "liar label" that has stuck like glue to the medical community for far too long... 

Let's put the Vaught case in proper perspective, and enjoy your weekend!

Sincerely,

- Doug

Doug Wojcieszak, MA, MS
Founder and President
Sorry Works!
618-559-8168 (direct dial)
doug@sorryworks.net