Kindly nurse vindicated

Envious bitches who attacked her get slapped down. There is a great variation in how geriatric nurses treat the institutionalized elderly, with some being very rough. That an unusually kind nurse would benefit from a legacy is therefore not unexpected. I know personally of a similar case. One would have hoped that the official disciplinary tribunal would have focused its attention on the rough nurses rather than the kindly ones

A nurse who was suspended for accepting an estimated $200,000 inheritance from a former patient had done nothing wrong, a Brisbane judge says. Glennys Laurel Fletcher, 50, was found guilty by a tribunal last year of "unsatisfactory professional conduct'' in relation to Rosewood resident James Paidley, 75, who she cared for as a Blue Care nurse from 2002 to 2004.

After Paidley was admitted to Ipswich Hospital in May 2004 and later transferred to nursing homes, Fletcher continued to visit him, fed his cat, mowed his lawn and collected his mail until his death in July 2005.

The tribunal found Fletcher's failure to ensure a "proper professional distance'' was a "breach of her professional obligations'' but did not find she had tried to influence him to benefit from his will.

Mr Paidley left the vast majority of his estate to Fletcher, unbeknownst to her, in a will he drafted by his privately appointed Ipswich-based lawyers prior to his death, the court was told.

However, Brisbane District Court Judge David Robin, in a written judgment, overturned the tribunal's decision. Judge Robin said there was no evidence Fletcher had used "undue influence'' or exercised an "abuse of position'' in refusing to relinquish the "generous gift'' Mr Paidley left her in his will. "There is a problem when the location of (professional) 'boundaries' not to be crossed (by nurses) cannot be identified (in Queensland’s Nursing Act),'' he said. "It would have been a useful indication of what standards members of the nursing profession expected of someone like Mrs Fletcher. "It will be interesting to see whether this proceedings leads to an amendment (to the Act).''

Fletcher resigned from Blue Care after the organisation asked her to give up the $200,000 left to her by Paidley, or else lose her job. Late last year the tribunal cancelled Fletcher's nursing registration for two years with a condition that she could never work again as a community health nurse or in an aged care facility. Fletcher appealed in the District Court last month against the tribunal's decision, with her counsel, John Allen, describing the two years as "excessive''.

Judge Robin, in judgment, said: "In my view, no abuse of position or exercise of undue influence was shown against Mrs Fletcher,'' she said. "In particular, her refusal to relinquish the generous gift the (Mr Paidley) made in his will does not in the circumstances establish such abuse ... or unsatisfactory professional conduct within the meaning of the Nursing Act. "It appears to follow that the appeal should be allowed and the charges against the (Fletcher) dismissed.''

He also ordered the Queensland Nursing Council pay Fletcher $10,000 in legal costs. [Great!]

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NSW government hospital chaos as man lay dying

An inquiry has been launched into how a patient died while one of the nation's most experienced emergency doctors was in a nearby office and junior doctors attended a training session and were not available to help clear the crowded emergency department.

Distressed nurses at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, told the Herald they pleaded for registrars attending an educational talk to help them after the department reached capacity last week, with all beds full, 23 people waiting to be seen and 11 ambulances in the waiting bay. They say the doctors were not available, forcing them to beg the department head, Sally McCarthy, to put the hospital on "code yellow" to stop more ambulances arriving.

The nurses also claim Dr McCarthy, who is the president of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, was not available and could not leave her office immediately. [No doubt she had a lot of important paperwork to do] The elderly man, thought to be dehydrated and suffering a severe infection, had arrived conscious at about 3.30pm last Wednesday, but given the busy state of the emergency department he had to wait "some time" in the bay and later became unresponsive, nurses said. He could not be resuscitated.

But the hospital's general manager, Andrew Bernard, yesterday disputed the nurses' claims, saying the man had left the bay and had undergone blood tests and cardiac monitoring before dying 2½ hours later. Dr McCarthy has refused to comment.

There is no suggestion the man would have survived if the department had not been busy, but nurses who contacted the Herald said they felt traumatised. "Several nurses contacted us and all were very distressed," the general secretary of the NSW Nurses Association, Brett Holmes, said yesterday.

An investigation into the incident has been ordered by the hospital. A spokesman for the Ambulance Service said no more than seven ambulances should have been at the hospital at the time.

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Another corrupt Melbourne cop

Teen boy 'taped policeman's baton threat'

A 14-YEAR-OLD boy says he used his mobile phone to secretly record a police officer's threat to assault him with a baton. The boy said he was intimidated by Leading Senior Constable Matthew Lake, who he said threatened to shove a baton up his backside. The officer has been put on alternative duties while the Ethical Standards Department investigates.

The 20-minute one-on-one interview - over an accusation the boy pushed a younger child off his bike and punched him repeatedly - was at Narre Warren station last Thursday. According to a tape heard by the Herald Sun, Sen-Constable Lake warned he'd circulate the boy's photo to other police so they could harass him.

The boy said the officer also waved a baton at him during repeated threats. He said that when Sen-Constable Lake left the interview room at one point, he turned on his mobile phone recorder. On his return, Sen-Constable Lake advised the boy anything he said could be used as evidence in court.

He then asked if the boy wanted the matter to end in court. Recorded was this comment: "If I hear one more complaint . . . about your behaviour, I'll shove this thing so far up your a***. . . you won't know what day it is."

The boy was eventually given a warning; on leaving, he told his mother he had been threatened. She phoned Sen-Constable Lake, told him the interview had been recorded, then taped several heated conversations with the officer. The registered nurse said he tried to calm her, apologising and explaining he was trying to teach her son a lesson and handled it the "wrong way".

She said she was not permitted to sit with her son during the interview, which is against police regulations when dealing with a child. "The more I listen to it, the more angry I get. I feel terrible I didn't go into that room," she said. "I said 'Don't be rough with him'. When my son got out of there he was pale. He couldn't breathe." She said her son suffered an asthma attack soon afterward and had to be put on a ventilator pump. The next day he was prescribed sedatives because he could not sleep.

She said she would seek legal advice over the unprofessional and damaging conduct. "I feel abused," the boy said. "He's a big guy. He stood over me . . . he had a baton and I thought he was going to hit me. He was waving it in my face."

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Federal conservatives close to deferring consideration of Warmist laws

THE Coalition may yet win Senate support to delay consideration of the Government's emissions trading legislation until later in the year so that the final form of US legislation and the outcome of the United Nations negotiations in Copenhagen can be taken into account.

To achieve a delay the Coalition would require the votes of both Family First Senator Steve Fielding and Independent Senator Nick Xenophon.

Senator Fielding has said for some time he would vote for a delay. Senator Xenophon has been wavering, but said he could consider a delay, although maybe only until September or October rather than next year, as the Coalition is advocating.

"I've told the Government and the Opposition that I see it as virtually impossible to get this legislation through by the end of June," he said.

"I think it's better to come back after the winter break and we'll have a better idea then what's happening in the US."

Shadow Cabinet endorsed the strategy of trying to delay the bills at a lengthy meeting last night and it was this morning being considered by Liberal and National party members at a joint party meeting in Canberra.

But the National Party had been opposing the strategy, arguing the Government's scheme was a "rabid dog" that should be "put down" straight away.

The Coalition appears to be intending to vote against the laws if their bid for a delay is unsuccessful, but leaving open the possibility of supporting them if a delay is successful and the final form of US legislation is not significantly different from what Australia is proposing.

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