Strict conditions make return to nursing unlikely for Martin

Lesley Martin

A Wanganui voluntary euthanasia campaigner convicted of attempting to murder her terminally ill mother has won her fight to keep her nursing registration.

But the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal has imposed strict conditions that make it unlikely that Lesley Martin will practise again.

Ms Martin was jailed for 15 months in 2004 for attempting to murder her mother, Joy, with an overdose of morphine in 2000.

Last November a professional conduct committee of the Nursing Council of New Zealand asked the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal to cancel Ms Martin's registration on the grounds her criminal conviction made her unfit to practise.

Speaking at the tribunal in Wellington yesterday, the Nursing Council's lawyer, Kristy McDonald, QC, cited the Court of Appeal ruling by Justice John Wild as saying Ms Martin's stance had been "equivocal, depending on whether her audience is public or judicial".

"This is not a case of a person driven to the depths of anguish and despair ... with greatly diminished responsibility," she quoted.

"It is a case of a professional nurse acting deliberately."

Ms McDonald said Ms Martin had breached the trust that other health professionals had placed in her. The attempted killing was premeditated and deliberate, and Ms Martin had failed to show any regret or remorse.

She asked why Ms Martin was so keen to retain her nursing registration, since she had not practised as a nurse since 1997 and had said she had no inclination to return to the profession.

Ms Martin might be intending to use her position as a health professional to bolster credibility for her voluntary euthanasia campaign, she suggested.

Ms Martin's lawyer, Donald Stevens, QC, argued that what Ms Martin might have done in her private capacity as a daughter caring for her terminally ill mother had nothing to do with her fitness to practise as a nurse, as the two situations were poles apart.

"It throws into sharp relief the distinction to be drawn between a registered nurse caring for a patient in the course of her duties and on the other hand a caregiver, who happens to be a nurse, caring for a loved family member."

It was unfair to say that Ms Martin should have sought help from other health professionals, he argued.

"Joy Martin and her daughter were seriously let down by a number of failings in the health systems."

Dr Stevens said she had no intention of using her professional position to lobby for euthanasia.

"She does not counsel people to commit suicide - she is just urging a debate on this issue of social interest, and promoting law reform."

Although she had no intention of returning to nursing at this stage, she might wish to work in nursing administration or in a general practice in the future, Dr Stevens said.

But Ms McDonald argued that because of the gravity of Ms Martin's offence, she should be struck off in the interests of safeguarding professional standards and public safety.

The tribunal's chairman, David Collins, QC, said some tribunal members believed Ms Martin's actions merited her removal from the register and had "major misgivings" about her competency to make decisions under stress.

It was incompatible with the standards of the profession to allow "someone caring for the ill and vulnerable to advocate and promote the termination of life", he said.

In order to obtain a current practising certificate, Ms Martin must:

* Undergo a full assessment by the Nursing Council.

* Be subjected to an assessment by a psychiatrist or psychologist regarding her ability to make appropriate decisions under pressure.

* Work for three years under strict supervision.

In imposing these conditions, Mr Collins said, the tribunal knew Ms Martin did not currently hold a practising certificate and that these conditions made it "very unlikely" she would practise again.

After the ruling Ms Martin said she felt it had been a balanced compromise. "It was nice to win one for once."

The tribunal had a number of penalties at its disposal and it had chosen the least punitive, she noted.

Although it was unlikely she would return to nursing, if she did so she would be happy to abide by these conditions.

- NZPA