Mental Abuse: Court Says Skilled Nursing Center Could Report, Fire Nurse
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
September 1999
Quick Summary: The patient had dementia. She believed her doll was her living baby.
A nurse smashed the doll’s head, bent it backward and shook the doll in front of the patient. She screamed and began to cry.
There were grounds to report the nurse to the nursing board and to fire him for mental abuse of a patient.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, KANSAS, 1999.A licensed practical nurse was suspended pending investigation and never returned to work after an incident where he committed mental abuse of a dementia patient by physically abusing a doll the patient believed was her living baby.
He filed a lawsuit in Federal court against the skilled nursing facility for wrongful discharge, discrimination and conspiracy.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas dismissed the lawsuit and exonerated the skilled nursing facility from legal liability.
The court rejected the nurse’s charges of race discrimination. The court pointed out this nurse had received favorable periodic written evaluations and regular pay raises before the incident and had never been written up or disciplined. The employer at no time tried to claim that his prior performance record was unsatisfactory or a factor in his suspension.
The court ruled that the severity of this one incident and the lack of proof of prior employer action that could be interpreted as discriminatory negated any inference the employer was motivated by racial bias. Mental abuse of a patient is a valid, non-discriminatory reason to terminate any nurse.
The nurse claimed in his lawsuit there was a conspiracy to inflict emotional distress upon him by fabricating an incident and reporting it to the nursing board. However, the court could find no evidence of any intent to inflict emotional distress. The court could see only that his co-workers, his employer and the nursing board acted appropriately and in good faith with a realistic belief the incident had occurred.
Another nurse heard about the incident from a CNA who witnessed the incident. The other nurse reported it to the administrator. The administrator interviewed the CNA and concluded the incident had in fact occurred.
The state nursing board found convincing evidence that an unprofessional act had been committed. The court judged the other nurse and the administrator by their good-faith state of mind when they took action and not with 20/20 hindsight after the nursing board’s decision.
When acting in good faith with reasonable grounds to believe the allegations are true, a person cannot be sued for reporting a nurse’s unprofessional conduct through proper channels or to the state nursing board. Okoye v. Hospital, 45 F. Supp. 2d 1118 (D. Kan., 1999).