A nurse who placed surgical tape over a patient’s mouth has been afraid to leave his home since, because he feared that the community would be angry and abusive, Sligo District Court heard today.
In a report to the court, consultant psychiatrist Dr Patricia Noone said that a Bimbo Paden accepted full responsibility for what he had done and she did not believe he would be an ongoing risk to patients in the future.
Mr Paden (39) is charged with assaulting Mr Kevin Quinn, a patient at St John’s Hospital Sligo on June 26th 2013.
The accused has suffered guilt, remorse, depression , and panic attacks since the incident last June, the psychiatrist found. His 10-year-old daughter has been questioned by other children at school about his action, and he was also ashamed of the embarrassment he had caused to his elderly parents in the Philippines who this year celebrate their golden jubilee.
The nurse told the psychiatrist that he frequently had flashbacks to the incident and he often cries while on his own. He felt he had let himself and his family down.
Mr Paden told the psychiatrist that the incident happened when a patient with grade 4 throat cancer had got very stressed and agitated by the shouting of Mr Quinn. He placed the tape over Mr Quinn’s mouth intending to leave it there for only a few seconds while getting another patient from the hoist to a chair.
A colleague had come along and seen it, the defendant had removed the tape, the matter was reported and he had not worked since.
An earlier court hearing was told that Mr Quinn needed 24-hour care since a brain haemorrhage 13 yeas ago.
Mr Paden worked at St John’s for 12 years.
He told Dr Noone that he did not know what came over him that day as he had never done anything like this before. He was under a lot of pressure that morning as a colleague who normally helped with the heavy work was not available and he was also trying to get another heavily dependent patient ready for a taxi. He knew there was no excuse for his behaviour .
The psychiatrist noted that the accused frequently found his work stressful because of the workload. He had two 20 minute breaks morning and afternoon, but rarely took them because of pressure of work .
She said that while the accused dreaded leaving his home, he had found his community were supportive as were his colleagues at St John’s Hospital.
He was now receiving counselling, was on anti-depressants and while he did not show signs of suicidal ideation during examination, he had harboured thoughts of suicide in the past.
The consultant told the court she did not believe the Filipino nurse would be a risk to patients in the future, and she believed it would be a major blow to him and his family if his career was ended.
She said Mr Paden had worked in a very stressful environment and was likely to have been under severe stress for a number of months before this incident. While he suffered from stress, fatigue and ongoing anxiety he was not the type of person who would complain to the authorities
Commenting on the report Judge Kevin Kilraine said it indicated the accused did not have a propensity for this type of uncaring attitude to patients. He added that it showed stress and fatigue had contributed very significantly to “this out of character behaviour” and that there was “no risk or low risk” of this happening again.
The psychiatrist’s report was largely in keeping with the findings of a HSE investigation, that while this was an appalling act, stress and fatigue had contributed to it.
Judge Kilraine said he found Mr Paden’s expressions of remove to be “wholesome and true” but nonetheless it was a serious incident. Sentencing was adjourned until April 24th.
