Facts
The Member admitted that he engaged in professional misconduct. In February 2022, while working as a Registered Practical Nurse in an inpatient mental health unit, the Member engaged in conduct which amounted to sexual abuse of a patient. The Member masturbated in the patient’s presence by videochat, encouraged the patient to masturbate in his presence by videochat, made remarks of a sexual nature towards the patient, requested and received personal and sexual pictures of the patient, requested and received a pair of the patient’s used underwear, and engaged in touching of a sexual nature of the patient including touching her genitals and buttocks for no clinical purpose. The Member also accessed the patient’s medical records without consent or clinical purpose.
Discipline Committee’s Findings
Based on the Member’s admissions, a panel of the Discipline Committee of the College of Nurses of Ontario (the “Panel”) found that the Member:
- sexually abused a patient;
- contravened a standard of practice of the profession or failed to meet the standards of practice of the profession; and
- engaged in conduct, relevant to the practice of nursing, that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable and unprofessional.
Discipline Committee’s Order
The College of Nurses of Ontario (“CNO”) and the Member presented the Panel with a Joint Submission on Order requesting that the Panel make an order that included the following:
- an oral reprimand;
- revocation of the Member’s certificate of registration; and
- requiring the Member to reimburse CNO for funding provided to the patient under a program required by s. 85.7 of the Health Professions Procedural Code, up to the amount of $5,000, if the patient accesses the fund.
The Panel accepted the Joint Submission on Order, concluding that the proposed penalty was reasonable and in the public interest. The Panel noted that the Member cooperated with the CNO and accepted responsibility by agreeing to the facts and a proposed order.