News
QMC nurse in durg lie struck off
An "untrustworthy and dishonest" hospital nurse has been struck off after failing to ensure a patient took vital anti-clotting drugs in the hours before he died of a heart attack.
Linda Green, 55, was responsible for the patient's dose of the crucial drug Enoxaparin after he underwent colonic surgery at Queen's Medical Centre.
His heart stopped at about 1.30pm the following day and surgeons lost the battle to resuscitate, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.
After the patient's death on March 16, the doctors checked drug charts at about 2pm and found there was no record the anti-clotting drug had been given the evening before.
An incident report was completed but a few hours later at about 6pm the ward sister saw Green's signature had mysteriously appeared.
David Glendinning, for the NMC, said there was no way of proving whether the drug was actually given.
Later the ward sister spoke to Green about the anti-clotting drug.
"She asked if Ms Green had given Enoxaparin, she said yes, she had given the drug," Mr Glendinning said.
"She said she remembered giving it but did not remember signing for it."
Green denied filling in the medication sheet after the death, and added she must have signed it when the drug was due the night before.
But three doctors, including a consultant and a registrar, recall seeing the drug chart was blank on the afternoon, Mr Glendinning said.
Dr David Humes said when he tried to revive the patient, he immediately thought a blood clot was a possible cause of his cardiac arrest.
"I asked if the patient had been given Enoxaparin to exclude it, and I was told yes," said Dr Humes.
The patient was later found not to have died of a blood clot.
However, Dr Humes told the panel he may have treated the patient differently if he thought the man had not been given Enoxaparin.
Green, of Derwent Way, Newark, did not attend the hearing.
She was struck off after the panel found she failed to record whether a patient was given medication.
Chair of the panel Paul Hindley said she had put her patient at risk then lied about it, and called her "untrustworthy and dishonest".
"There has been no admission of the facts and the registrant has shown no insight into her failings," Mr Hindley said.
"To make an omission then deliberately make a fraudulent entry to cover up that omission is fundamentally incompatible with remaining on the register."
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