AP News, December 15th, 2006
A nurse charged with criminal negligence in a drug mix-up that led to the death of a 16-year-old pregnant girl was suspended Thursday for nine months, the state nursing board said.
Julie Thao, 42, was suspended retroactive to July 6, the day after the death of Jasmine Gant, an expectant mother whose 8-pound boy survived. The suspension will end in April.
Thao had agreed not to practice nursing while the Board of Nursing investigated. Her lawyer, Stephen Hurley, said Thursday he did not know whether she wanted to return to nursing.
If she returned, her hours would be limited and she would face greater scrutiny from regulators for two years, the board said.
The board disciplined Thao for mistakenly giving Gant a dose of an epidural anesthetic instead of penicillin to treat a strep infection during labor. The pain reliever caused Gant to have a seizure and die within hours.
The board said Thao mistakenly grabbed the epidural bag from the counter in the birthing room at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison instead of the antibiotic.
Thao failed to put a wristband on Gant, to scan the medication and wristband into a computer system that would have detected the mix-up, and to read the warning label on the epidural bag, the board said. The board suggested she was overworked.
Thao has pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of neglect of a patient causing great bodily harm. A plea hearing and sentencing were scheduled for Friday. Hurley declined to comment Thursday on whether a plea deal had been reached.
The criminal charge has alarmed groups representing medical professionals who say punishment for unintentional errors should be left to regulators and the civil court system.
While calling Gant's death tragic, they say the charge sends the wrong message at a time of nursing shortages and attempts to improve self-reporting of medical errors. Charging a nurse in a drug mix-up is virtually unprecedented nationally, they say.
Thao agreed to the board's sanction. The deal said she may not admit or deny the allegations, and the board's order will not be affected by the outcome of the criminal case.
Eric Farnsworth, a lawyer for Gant's mother, Regina Young, said he would not second-guess the board's punishment.
"If they had taken her license away forever, it wouldn't bring Jasmine back," he said.
