I have not seen any forums related to this and seem to still have more questions than solid answers, so I post this for all of you woderful people to read and comment on. I am hoping to get some type of clarification for knowledge sake. For an example, I will use this senario- An RN who has a child. This said child one day decided to report to someone that the mom(RN) has been abusing and sexually inapproriatly touching this child for years. This child decided to place themself in a potentially dangerous situation than to continue to take the abuse...like jumping out of a moving car to get away from being punched in the face...). Child is taken to ER at the facility where mom(RN) works but not in the ER, child requires many stitches and after police are called by ER staff, goes to foster care protection. Situation then changes to child going to live with dad and dad being awarded custody of child. Mom(RN) then decides to refuse to let child have any of their clothes, music, books, bike...etc and continues to verbally place threatening limits on child (ie. example- I wouldn't keep all your stuff away from you if you hadn't...fill in the blank, it's all your fault anyway). So now, child is away from mom(RN) and tells dad about him waking up in the middle of the night with mom(RN) laying in twin bed with her hand in child's pants caressing privates. Child also stated that mom(RN) used to always give kisses that resulted in dark red hickys on child. So, if you were listening to this story...what would your thoughts be and what actions would you try to do? Keep in mind this mom is an RN and is in a position of teaching nursing students. Thanks so much for any input.
I just can't believe that people here have said that the OP should MYOB. This attitude, especially from nurses is beyond belief, you should feel ashamed.
The understanding of those who said to MYOB is that the authorities are already involved, that the allegations have already been reported.
Nobody has ever said that the allegations should not be reported to the authorities.
The position is that beyond reporting to the proper authorities, there is nothing more to be done. The investigation needs to be allowed to take its course, and the accused needs to be charged with a crime and tried in a court of law.
Until the accused has been convicted in a court of law, repeating the unsubstantiated allegations to the BON or the school of nursing is none of the OP's business.
I think the OP has the right to, not necessarily the obligation to, report this nurse to the BONi if the allegations have been substantiated. A criminal is a criminal. Whether a nurse is a thief, a drug abuser, a child abuser they should not be able to retain their license. If they are capable of doing these things whatever might they be capable of? Nurses need to be of good morale character and be lawabing citizens, IMHO
I think the OP has the right to, not necessarily the obligation to, report this nurse to the BONi if the allegations have been substantiated. A criminal is a criminal. Whether a nurse is a thief, a drug abuser, a child abuser they should not be able to retain their license. If they are capable of doing these things whatever might they be capable of? Nurses need to be of good morale character and be lawabing citizens, IMHO
I doubt any of us would disagree with the notion that someone who has been found guilty of abusing a child (or anyone else) should lose her/his license.
But the issue here is that the allegations HAVE NOT (yet) been substantiated.
I doubt any of us would disagree with the notion that someone who has been found guilty of abusing a child (or anyone else) should lose her/his license.
But the issue here is that the allegations HAVE NOT (yet) been substantiated.
WOW- there have been alot of comments regarding this situation. Thank you everyone who commented. Although for some the 'story' may seem fishy or unsubstantiated, I can assure you that things were purposely sketchy as to protect BOTH child AND RN-mom. Dfc's was involved, the police were involved, however, the foster care and dfcs systems do not always report the SUBSTANTIAL AND PROVEN ABUSE (both sexual and physical) that was presented in the court of law- to the BON. That was why I asked this question of my fellow nurses. Should this mom be reported to BON if it has not been? Sadly disturbed by the many who claimed I should MYOB...I would have thought that as nurses, we are obligated to report and not look the other way so we can protect the public and especially those who may be vulnerable (like children), and while I do agree that there has been in the past cases of false allegations, those cases are dismissed after investigations. Unfortunatly, in this day and age, how can we nurses protect children without sometimes sticking our necks out? It is too bad if the abuser ends up loosing their job or status or liscence or whatever, but seriously folks- don't you think they should have thought about that before abusing their OWN CHILD? By the way, there is much more to this case than what I can allow to be shared here. Again thanks to everyone for their input.
WOW- there have been alot of comments regarding this situation. Thank you everyone who commented. Although for some the 'story' may seem fishy or unsubstantiated, I can assure you that things were purposely sketchy as to protect BOTH child AND RN-mom. Dfc's was involved, the police were involved, however, the foster care and dfcs systems do not always report the SUBSTANTIAL AND PROVEN ABUSE (both sexual and physical) that was presented in the court of law- to the BON. ...........
I understand why you had to leave a lot of details out. When I read about the mom's verbally abusive actions and the kids desperation (since he dove out of a moving car) the post definately didn't sound fishy. I truly hope the kid is safe from his mother, and anyone else that is vulnerable to her actions is safe. I don't know what type of pts. she has, but with her attitude and dysfunction, they could be hurt.
Virgo_RN, BSN, RN
3,543 Posts
The understanding of those who said to MYOB is that the authorities are already involved, that the allegations have already been reported.
Nobody has ever said that the allegations should not be reported to the authorities.
The position is that beyond reporting to the proper authorities, there is nothing more to be done. The investigation needs to be allowed to take its course, and the accused needs to be charged with a crime and tried in a court of law.
Until the accused has been convicted in a court of law, repeating the unsubstantiated allegations to the BON or the school of nursing is none of the OP's business.