Nurse fired after accessing vulnerable patient’s confidential records before luring him into a sexual relationship
- A nurse was fired after accessing patient’s private records for his phone number
- She used his number to start text messaging before meeting him at his home
- She engaged in a sexual relationships with the man before trying to break-up
- As a result she was suspended from nursing for 12 months
An experienced nurse has been fired for accessing a patient’s private records to get his phone number to start a sexual relationship with him.
The rehabilitation nurse, who wasn’t named, had been working at the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre, north of Adelaide, for 15 years when the incident occurred, The Advertiser reported.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency received a complaint from the South Australian Health Practitioners Tribunal in 2016, outlining how the nurse had accessed a vulnerable patient’s records to get his phone number.
An experienced nurse has been fired after it was found that she had accessed a patients private records to get his phone number and start a sexual relationship with him
The agency heard the nurse and the former patient started to exchange text messages before she went to his house to engage in ‘consensual sexual behaviour’.
During a hearing with the AHPRA, the nurse admitted to the accusations and said she initially accessed the phone number to check on the welfare of the patient.
She told the agency she was not in the right state of mind and attempted to end the relationship after realising he error.
She was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital quality and safety department in early 2017 but was fired by July of the same year.
Her actions were deemed as an act of professional misconduct and the tribunal ruled her actions after obtaining the phone number were continued breaches of the code of conduct.
‘Under this conduct, nurses have a responsibility to maintain a professional boundary between themselves and the person being cared for, and sexual relationships between nurses and persons with whome they have previously entered into a professional relationship are inappropriate in most circumstances,’ the tribunal stated.
Her nurse’s registration was suspended for 12 months and she was also ordered to undergo and pass a series of training courses before she can reapply.
Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre (pictured) nurse and the former patient started to exchange text messages before she went to his house to engage in ‘consensual sexual behaviour’