Nurse Fights for License After Sex With Dying Patient - Page 4

It would appear that the nurse did indeed attend to both the patient's physical and emotional needs. Sex is an emotional and physical experience after all.

There's a lot of talk about "should have" and "should be," but is there an actual federal law about this?

What makes an action ethical or not is somewhat in the eye of the beholder.

My thinking is that the professional nature of this relationship should have been dissolved when it became apparent that the patient begun having 'unprofessional' feelings toward his nurse. She should have immediately requested that she be relieved of caring for this particular patient. REGARDLESS to whether she felt a personal attraction to this man. Part of nursing is critical thinking and she certainly didn't use many of those skills when she let this happen.
I do feel the Nurse took advantage of the situation and let her own misguided feelings for her patient overrule her good judgement.

I don't know if I would feel secure w/ her caring for my loved one knowing that she has a history of unethical behavior.
That being said 20 yrs is a bit much for an ethical violation but I can't help but wonder if the impact of their relationship played a part in his death. This is just sad. Sad for his family to have to always remember this as part of the story of their loved ones final months and sad that this nurse did not see the big picture of how her actions would impact those who looked to her with confidence and trust. She betrayed their trust.
Some psych evaluations may be in order to see what SHE felt she was gaining from this relationship and why she let this occur.
Maybe revoke for 5yrs, make her obtain therapy and if appropriate let her resume Nursing .....in a supervised situation only, no more home healthcare settings or hospice situations. I'm not a nurse yet so this is just my opinion being a nursing student and using some basic common sense.

I doubt that someone that old is going to remedy her obvious lack of judgement simply with the passage of 20 years. They should have revoked the license and left it at that.

I see this as clearly unprofessional and I don't understand why her lisence wasn't just pulled. However it's can't be the case that a nurse can never have sex with their former patients. That would just discriminate against rural health care practitioners.
I have been the ONLY RN in a small town hospital ER on the night shift (only RN in the whole hospital). Does that mean that if my wife steps on a nail and comes to the ER when I am working she must either do without nursing care or we can never have relations again?

I think you're taking this a little too literally. The issue isn't a nurse providing care to someone where a sexual relationship has already formed prior to the nurse-patient relationship forming.

A sexual relationship arising out of the nurse-patient relationship is the issue. More specifically, the issue is a sexual relationship forming when there is a clear power imbalance between the two parties involved.

Some would say that if another nurse is available, it is best for them to care for a loved one. Especially since one has the right to privacy, even from a spouse. However, if you're the only nurse around, then you're the only nurse around.

Now, if your wife stepped on a nail, came to the ER and you coerced her to have sex with you while she was receiving treatment, then you might just have an abuse of the nurse-patient relationship.

To me, the root of the problem began when she started visiting the patient during off/working hours. This is a bad practice because she was assigned to the patient and he was still undergoing treatment by the agency...which was the BON's entire argument.

However, because she is newly licensed, I will say this:

At our nursing school, they were very, very clear and we even had test questions, on what defined a professional relationship. We were told that you didn't go to their house for dinner, accept gifts, you didn't give out your phone number, address, etc...or visit when you were not working. It was pounded into our brains at how much trouble it can cause.

One wonders..if she was ever taught the difference...as her entire argument was that she was on her own time...well, she was a HOSPICE nurse, which meant that he was going to be in the care of her employer for the duration of his life...therefore, there was never going to be a time when any of it, would have been acceptable as the professional relationship was never going to be terminated...until he died.

Hahaha I was going to answer--- it wouldn't pose a problem unless you do it on the exam table.

I am also from a small town environment. There is one small hospital and every person in the area has at some point been a patient. For this to apply in a rural area, they would have to make a rule that nurses could only date outside of the county they live in, or be nuns. I will grant that there were other ethical issues here (like that he was married), but they were personal relationship issues, not nursing ones. Some nurse dating an ex-patient, and all of their relationship drama thereafter is not high on my radar of things which are my business.

Another scenario in a small town might be a nurse who works for a doctor's office dating a current patient who only comes in once a year for a check-up. Ideal? No, of course not...but in rural areas it is certainly going to happen. Where is the line? If she were letting it effect her job performance that would endanger patients.

I agree that she may be psychologically off, if she sent him some "wish it was you" message about the baby.

I wish everyone, every patient, every person whom has cast doubt on the morality or ethics of nurses could read this thread. The high standard and no tolerance for violating ethics is outstanding. Your willingness to hold your own accountable is commendable, wish our countries leaders did the same. While it is off the topic it is related to a degree. I was struck by the sentiment of the majority that 20 yr suspension was either justified or perhaps not severe enough, but the Dr. in NM who abused unconcious male patients retained her lisc. and went back to practicing at Gila Regional Hosp.. This was commented on here before but in light of this discussion I went back and revisited it. I found an article from the local newspaper where people can comment on line. I was stunned to find, while a minority, some who actually expressed the opinion her offenses should be looked over as she was a good dr. and provided valuable services to the hospital. I don't know if the comments in support were from hospital rep or random people, its impossible to tell. Once again, I commend you for your unbending ethics, no wonder Nurses constantly rank at the top of people & professions we trust. If you want to read or comment on this I will try to post the link . It's good to vent. Might be good for some of those folks to understand the standard you hold yourself to. You restore my faith.