Nursing error ...

... criminal charge?

Dana Richardson, vice president for quality at the Wisconsin Hospital Association, said in a prepared statement that "it is cruel to allege that this mistake constituted criminal conduct."

The charge "accomplishes nothing other than to compound the anguish of this situation," she said.

In an interview, Richardson said the charge could have a chilling effect, causing people to be less likely to go into nursing or other health-care fields. "This sends the message that you are at risk for criminal charges if you make an unintentional error," she said.

...

If convicted, she faces a $25,000 fine and up to three years in prison and three years of extended supervision.

Julie Thao, 41, who no longer works at St. Mary's, was caring for 16- year-old Jasmine Gant of Fitchburg on July 5 as Gant was about to deliver a baby. She mistakenly gave Gant an epidural anesthetic intravenously, a state investigation previously revealed. Gant was supposed to receive penicillin through the IV for a strep infection. An epidural is supposed to be injected near the spine to numb the pelvic area during birth. Gant died shortly after the error. Her baby boy, delivered by emergency Caesarean section, survived.

According to the criminal complaint, Thao:

Improperly removed the epidural bag from a locked storage system. Gant's physician, Dr. Joseph Fok, never ordered the epidural;

Didn't scan the bar code on the epidural bag, which would have told her it was the wrong drug;

Ignored a bright pink label on the bag that said in bold letters, "FOR EPIDURAL ADMINISTRATION ONLY";

Disregarded hospital and nursing rules in failing to confirm a patient's "five rights" when receiving drugs: right patient, right route, right dose, right time and right medication.

"The actions, omissions and unapproved shortcuts of the defendant constituted a gross breach of medical protocol, resulting in the death" of Gant, wrote Gregory Schuler, an investigator with the justice department's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. According to a written statement and an interview with a state investigator, Thao said she got the epidural bag to show Gant what it looked like. She acknowledged she "had no business getting it out" of the storage locker.