Sexual relations with patients

[camille217]

Hi there I am new to this site and well new as a nurse as well.

there is a male nurse who we all know is having sexual relations with a patient in acute care. The hospital seems to want to stick their heads in the sand and people do not seem to want to get involved. The female patient is on very heavy narcotics and benzos and the hospitals thought is it may be mutual but given the dosages she may not remember and we know they did not know each other prior to her admittance.

What is our duty to report ?? And to whom ? If the hospital will not listen will the nursing boards?

[HappyPediRN]

Seriously what I want to know is how you can even get aroused around an ICU patient, nevermind actually engage in sexual relations with them. The bugs crawling around an ICU is not exactly a turn on, and the thought of contracting MRSA through sexual intercourse is enough to turn me off for life and make me vomit at the same time. I don't see how a deathly ill patient can be remotely sexy. I think this nurse needs serious psychological help or a career change because he has obviously spent too much in the ICU (or watched too much Grey's Anatomy) and is out of touch with reality.

[Atheos]

if you witness it or directly observe it, it is your responsibility to report it.

not on rumor, not on gut, not on suspicion...but direct observation.

period. end of discussion.

i have a question as i haven't covered this in school yet. it may be a simple question. sometimes i work with children. basically the law, at least here, states if i 'suspect' abuse i have to report it and anyone that works around children is considered a mandatory reporter, even a 'babysitter.' would it not be the same as a nurse. aren't we supposed to report 'suspected' abuse. as a cna i was always told to report it if i even only suspected it.

just wondering...

[dekagirlsRN]

To quote my favorite t.v. judge (Judge Judy), "IF IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE, IT'S NOT TRUE!!" Enough said.

[leslie :-D]

I have a question as I haven't covered this in school yet. It may be a simple question. Sometimes I work with children. Basically the law, at least here, states if I 'suspect' abuse I have to report it and anyone that works around children is considered a mandatory reporter, even a 'babysitter.' Would it not be the same as a nurse. Aren't we supposed to report 'suspected' abuse. As a CNA I was always told to report it if I even only suspected it.

Just wondering...

yes, we are mandated reporters.

and we can easily do so while remaining anonymous, if that's a concern.

there are/were just soooo many questionable facets to both her threads:

non-reporting, only being a minor factor.

but i truly do hope the op gets the help she needs.

leslie

[justme1972]

I have a question as I haven't covered this in school yet. It may be a simple question. Sometimes I work with children. Basically the law, at least here, states if I 'suspect' abuse I have to report it and anyone that works around children is considered a mandatory reporter, even a 'babysitter.' Would it not be the same as a nurse. Aren't we supposed to report 'suspected' abuse. As a CNA I was always told to report it if I even only suspected it.

Just wondering...

You have asked a very valid question.

Suspected can mean different things to different people, and I'll give you a really good example.

We had a pregnant lady in our L&D unit that was pregnant with a baby girl. She said she had "lost" three other children. The woman's mother, was also there, and she said (and read this carefully):

Grandma: "We are really excited over this baby girl. You see, she keeps having boys and I have two grandsons with my other daughter, so we are really excited."

Note: The patient was pregnant with two boys at two different times...both lost before they reached 24 weeks gestation.

Preg. Mom: "No Mom, that isn't exactly true, we lost 'Jane'".

Note: So I'm thinking...ok...that must have been miscarriage #3

Grandma: "Yes, but we lost Jane"

Note: They went on to tell me how Jane "died"...AT FIVE YEARS OLD b/c they claimed she aspirated on her own vomit in her sleep.

I found that very, very, very hard to believe that a child that age would do that.

Personally, I think something else happened to the baby...b/c that statement isn't even in the STRATOSPHERE of being appropriate....you remember the miscarried babies but forget the 5 year old?

However, is that enough to report someone?

Nope

Different situation:

You see a child keep coming in with bruises in strange patterns with little or no explanation...and they have specific "shapes" to them rather than just the bumps here and there that kids get that don't really have much of a shape.

Is that enogh to report someone for suspicion?

Yup...it sure is.

What I meant in my previous post by suspicion, is that in the OP's case, several of them claimed to witness it. You also don't want to report someone, especially for sexual abuse, unless you are really, really sure that you have someone good to go on, b/c those kids are usually yanked out of their home immediately pending an investigation as a precaution...so you wouldn't report a child that doesn't "act right" or seems to have a more than normal knowledge of sex (because maybe he/she may be secretly watching their parents, Media, etc), but if you see several of these things happening at once...THAT is when the red flag should go up.

[Atheos]

Thank you for the answer. :)

Luckily for me I have only had to report suspected physical abuse once which, as a male I feel is very easy to spot, having had almost every broken bone and bruise imaginable. Turned out that I was right too.

However I would probably miss sexual abuse if it hit me in the face and ran by... Hope I never run into that stuff. Who knows what would happen if I caught someone in the act. ***SHUDDER***