KEY POINTS:
The Nursing Council of New Zealand today appealed to the High Court at Wellington to prevent euthanasia campaigner Lesley Martin from ever practising nursing again.
Ms Martin was convicted in 2004 for attempting to murder her terminally ill mother with an overdose of morphine four years earlier.
Last June, a professional conduct committee of the Nursing Council asked the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal to cancel Ms Martin's registration on the grounds her conviction made her unfit to practice.
The tribunal stopped short of de-registering Ms Martin, but imposed strict conditions she must meet before returning to the profession.
A professional conduct committee appealed this decision to the High Court today, arguing the tribunal did not lend enough weight to the seriousness of Ms Martin's offence, saying her conviction, for attempted murder, was fundamentally incompatible with the nursing profession, which seeks to protect and care for the elderly, the ill and the vulnerable.
Ms Martin's defence lawyer, Donald Stevens QC, said the circumstances of her offending were unique, and related to a personal situation rather than a professional one.
Her professional record was impeccable.
Justice Warwick Gendall reserved his decision.
- NZPA
