Nurse investigation to be widened

THE inquiry into the activities of a nurse being investigated for the unauthorised administering of drugs to three elderly patients, two of whom died, is to be widened to include her work at a Dublin hospital.

The nurse, in her 20s, had returned from working overseas, when she took up a position in a Dublin hospital, which cannot be named for legal reasons. Authorities there will be asked to check her treatment record for any suspicious activity.

When asked if her previous place of employment had been contacted, a spokesperson for South Western Health Board said: “other contacts have been made.”

Her posting in the geriatric section of Naas General Hospital between January and July of this year was the nurse’s second in Ireland, and was arranged through an agency.

The nurse was suspended from duty on July 2 at Naas General Hospital after allegations of administering drugs to three elderly patients, without the drugs having been prescribed by a doctor. This is specifically prohibited under nursing regulations.

The concerns were raised by another nurse working at Naas General Hospital.

The South Western Health Board then informed the gardaí of the allegations on July 10. Detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation are heading the investigation. One of the two patients who died was John Gethings, a gardener, 77, from Baltinglass, Co Wicklow.

Speaking from the family home in Baltinglass yesterday, Mr Gethings’ son, Thomas, said he had been suffering from respiratory and circulatory problems and had been brought into Naas General for a series of tests in February this year.

He said his father had been due for discharge to a local hospital in Baltinglass on a Friday, but had taken a turn for the worse after being transferred to another ward.

Mr Gethings died the following morning, March 1. Mr Gethings and his wife, Annie, who is 75 today, were due to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on August 18.

“The girl (the nurse) is innocent until proven guilty; I’m not going to judge her,’’ Thomas Gethings said.

The Gethings family were only told of the investigation last Friday. They were informed there was an internal investigation at the hospital into a nurse who had cared for Mr Gethings. They were told it would be a low-key investigation, but matters changed on Thursday night when they were informed that Mr Gethings’ body was to be exhumed.

Yesterday, gardaí exhumed his body from Baltinglass Cemetery in Co Wicklow. A post mortem was carried out by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy.

A second independent inquiry will be carried out by the former chief executive of St James’ Hospital healthcare consultant Liam Dunbar. An Bord Altranais, the regulatory body for nurses, is also investigating.

Gardaí will decide on whether to exhume the body of the second patient who died, once they have viewed the results of toxicology tests carried out on Mr Gethings’ remains. These results are expected in the next two days.