A senior nurse, found guilty of negligence after inadvertently starving a geriatric patient, was censured by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal and ordered to pay more than $10,000 at a penalty hearing.
The nurse been found guilty of professional misconduct by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal in August.
Both the name of the nurse and hospital were suppressed.
The tribunal found the nurse guilty of professional misconduct for not consulting a doctor or dietitian over changes to Leonard Stevenson's feeding and not reviewing it.
Mr Stevenson - who had been in institutional care since 1995 - had to be fed with a tube. He had initially suffered a head injury, then developed epilepsy and finally had a stroke.
He lost 16kg from 77kg over one nine-month period and weighed 57.3kg in February 2002.
Geriatrician Dr Kirsten Holst, who saw Mr Stevenson when he was admitted to Palmerston North Hospital in March 2002, told the tribunal he looked "like he had been in Belsen" (a nazi concentration camp). He died in April 2002.
Dr Holst had been "very concerned" that Mr Stevenson's intake of liquid nutritional supplement Jevity - his only food - had been halved to 1000 millilitres a day.
Jevity was nutritionally complete at about 1350 calories (about 1400ml) a day - meaning his intake was not enough for his nutritional needs and probably not providing enough fluid to keep him hydrated.
The nurse had been "devastated" when she found out Mr Stevenson had been deprived of nourishment over a long period and that his water had also been significantly reduced.
The nurse indicated in a letter that the Jevity regime was reduced because of his abdominal pain and distension.
"I failed to reassess that as, although aware of Mr Stevenson's weight loss, assumed this was due to his progressively worsening debilitating condition," she wrote.
The tribunal said the nurse was "exceptionally well meaning", but by not seeking a doctor or dietician's advice, she acted contrary to Mr Stevenson's interests.
"The most distressing part of this case is that while the care that Mr Stevenson received seems to have been loving, there is no doubt that he was being slowly starved and probably dehydrated."
The tribunal held a penalty hearing in Wellington on November 21.
It ordered the nurse to pay 10 percent of the costs of the tribunal and the director of proceedings, amounting to $10,327, of which $6327 was to be paid to the Nursing Council of New Zealand and $4000 to be paid to the Health and Disability Commissioner.
The tribunal also ordered permanent suppression of her name and any details that may identify her.
The nurse is now appealing the decision to the High Court.
HELLO since when has a nurse been a fn Doctor!!! Nurses are there to carry out instructions from Drs and ensure the prescribed medication BY A Dr is administered to the patient. Wrong person is being charged here. Bloody Typical of our fd up so called justice system!!
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Originally Posted by skidmark
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