Nurse who gave Iowa inmates vaccine overdoses appeals firing
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — One of two Iowa prison nurses fired for accidentally giving dozens of inmates large overdoses of the coronavirus vaccine is appealing her termination, arguing she is “blameless" for the mix-up.
The Iowa Department of Corrections fired Amanda Dodson, a registered nurse at the maximum-security Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison, after an investigation found 77 inmates received shots containing up to six times the recommended dose of the Pfizer vaccine.
Dodson’s termination letter, obtained by The Associated Press through an open records request, blamed her for “improper COVID vaccination procedures” that resulted in inmates receiving overdoses on April 20.
The department said inmates reported side effects associated with the vaccine such as body aches and fevers, but none were sick enough to require hospitalization and all later recovered.
Without specifying how the overdoses happened, the May 10 letter signed by Acting Warden Chris Tripp said an investigation concluded that Dodson violated a host of employee work rules and policies. It suggested she was inattentive and unfamiliar with essential duties, failed to properly administer medications, and did not respond properly to a “medication incident," among other things.
The letter ordered Dodson to turn in her state-issued uniform and badge before receiving her final paycheck May 21. State records show she had worked at the prison since at least 2004, starting as a radiological technologist before becoming a registered nurse in 2013. She earned $75,252 in 2020.
Dodson and Council 61 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a union representing prison staff, appealed her firing earlier this month. The appeal to the Iowa Public Employment Relations Board argues...