Censured nurse leaves tribunal and her job

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The senior nurse who was disciplined for having an affair with the husband of a severely disabled patient has resigned from her position as a member of the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal.

The nurse, whose name was suppressed by the tribunal when it considered a professional misconduct charge against her, has also quit from the district health board she worked for when the affair began.

She was in the pool of health workers and lay people appointed by the Government for the tribunal to draw on to sit in judgment panels in disciplinary cases. Each panel has five members, including a lawyer as chairperson. Health Minister Tony Ryall's office said yesterday it had received the nurse's resignation from the tribunal.

The nurse denied the professional misconduct charge. She argued that nursing ethics did not specifically cover her situation and that the patient would not have known of the relationship because of her condition - a point disputed by others.

The patient, a mother of two daughters, had a severe stroke which left her virtually unable to talk and confined to an electric wheelchair.

The tribunal found the nurse guilty of professional misconduct and suspended her from practising for six months, but put that part of her sentence on hold for a year, on condition that there is no complaint, disciplinary process, or issue arising against her during that time. She was also ordered to undergo a year's professional supervision and to pay $21,000 toward the costs of her prosecution.

The tribunal said she had an "intimate and/or sexual relationship" with the husband starting in June 2009, which was about six months after the patient was admitted to the name-suppressed facility run by the DHB. The nurse had only limited contact with the patient after the relationship started, and moved to another facility run by the DHB the following January.