Judge upholds nurse's suspension for allegedly blocking patient's airway
A Northwest Territories Supreme Court judge has dismissed former N.W.T. nurse Madeline Heffel's appeal of her licence suspension for allegedly covered the mouth and nose of a combative patient.
Heffel had her nursing licence suspended in 2014 and was fined $10,000 after the Registered Nurses Association of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut found she acted unprofessionally in an incident that took place in Deline in 2011.
According to court documents, Heffel and two other nurses treated a 15-year-old male patient that July. RCMP had recovered him from the shores of Great Bear Lake after he had tried to drown himself.
He was hypothermic and was taken to the community's health centre for treatment.
According to court documents, Heffel said he was combative — kicking, biting and spitting on the nurses. Heffel said as she and another nurse were trying to hold him down so they could begin treatment, he spat on her face.
In the documents, the two other nurses said Heffel then put a blanket over the patient's mouth and pinched his nostrils, blocking his airway. One of them told the Registered Nurses Association that she heard Heffel say "I'll stop when you stop."
Heffel denied blocking the patient's airway.
Complaint filed
Both nurses filed a complaint about the incident. After an investigation, the Sahtu Health and Social Services Authority fired Heffel for abusing a patient.
The nursing association's board of inquiry found Heffel had "failed to meet acceptable nursing standards" and her "actions were excessive to accomplish the purpose of defence and restraint." It fined her and suspended her licence to practise in February 2014. The board told Heffel she could have her licence reinstated if she completed a specialized nursing course.
Heffel's appeal argued the board overstepped its authority by suspending her and that it had no evidence that the incident took place.
Justice Virginia Schuler dismissed Heffel's appeal this week, saying the board had every right to suspend and fine her.
"There is no basis upon which I can re-visit that conclusion as it is not one that is palpably in error, rather, it is a possible conclusion on the evidence," Justice Schuler said in her decision.
Schuler also ordered Heffel to pay the nursing association's legal costs.
