Monday, January 17, 2011

Nurse loses license for 20 years over sex with hospice patient | NewsOK.com

Nurse loses license for 20 years over sex with hospice patient | NewsOK.com


Wow. Never been tempted to have sex with one of my patients. Of course often they have been elderly, toothless, stinky, drunk, on drugs, or all of the above. Anybody ever have any issues with this? I don't know what this gentleman looked like, but I suppose that is really irrelevant. He was a patient, a married patient. The nurse is stating the sexual contact occurred after he was no longer a patient. Do you think that makes a difference? I guess I don't often think about dying hospice patients even still functioning sexually, which is biased on my part. What are your opinions on this article and the nurse's situation?

6 comments:

  1. Reading the story makes it very complicated. Sounds like she was going to the patients house to give treatment and he was married.
    It also sounds like the companies policies and procedures prohibited any such conduct.

    As a staff nurse and travel nurse at over 15 hospitals policies have varied. More often it is the nurses code of ethics than a hospital rules preventing this conduct.
    In Orlando we were told that if by chance we met a former patient in the community, say a bar, then that was our time, they had no rules against it.
    Personally I don't think it is a good idea, but we see it daily with other hierarchical and power relationships.
    How many doctors are dating nurses? Or administration dating staff?

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  2. But this man was not a former patient. She was still his nurse, whether she was off duty at the time that they had sex or not. It was an inappropriate relationship and that is clearly grounds for losing your license with the College of Nurses here in Ontario.

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  3. The whole situation is just sad, for both the patient and the nurse.
    I agree with NP, though. Aside from the fact that he was married at the time, if he had been a *former* patient of hers, it shouldn't have been a problem but because she was still providing care that is where the ethical dilemma comes into play.

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  4. There's always a power relationship between nurse and patient, and it's hard to see how sexual contact in this situation --- especially in this situation --- wasn't a gross violation of the therapeutic relationship. AnonymousRN is right: here in Ontario she would lose her licence. It's a form of abuse.

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  5. this is crazy. patient and nurse? nothing to say but its not love.

    To all doctors and nurses, maybe you would be interested to read this http://shopping-advice.ezinemark.com/basics-to-buying-new-stethoscopes-7d35c811b46e.html - Basics to Buying New Stethoscopes

    ReplyDelete