Nurse claims injection was prescribed

A nurse accused of poisoning two elderly patients at Naas General Hospital told gardaí that she had given one of them an intra muscular injection of Serenase which she claimed had been prescribed for him.

Ms Noreen Mulholland (aged 35), now living in Park Road, Portadown, County Armagh, also denied in interview that she had used a larger white needle to inject Mr John Gethings (aged 77), of Baltinglass, County Wicklow.

She also claimed that her colleague that night, Ms Sharon Baxter, told her to get Mr Gethings "to shut the f**k up because he was going to wake up the whole f**king ward" while she was attending to him because he was agitated.

Ms Mulholland had pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to Mr Gethings on March 1, 2003 and to Mr Seamus Doherty (80), Rathcoffey, Naas, County Kildare, between June 18-19, 2003.

Ms Mulholland, previously of Runabeg Close, Kildare, also denies intentionally or recklessly administering a substance, Serenase, to both men, knowing it was capable of interfering substantially with their bodily functions without their consent on the same dates.

Ms Orla Crowe BL, prosecuting, has told the jury that Mr Gethings died on March 2, 2003 but emphasised that it was not the State’s case that Ms Mulholland was responsible for his death.

Detective Sergeant Ashley O’Sullivan said Ms Mulholland told him that February 28 to March 01, 2003 was her first night shift in Naas and she understood, following hand over of patients from the day staff, that Mr Gethings was a priority patient.

She said when she first checked on him he was calling out in a low moan: "I am dying. I am dying", and she tried to console him and gave him his medication which included Serenase in tablet form.

Det. Gda O’Sullivan said the accused told gardaí that Serenase was prescribed on Mr Gethings chart as both PO (tablet form) and IM (intra muscular injection) but that it was on the "as required" side of the chart whereas it should have been on the "regular" medication side because he had already been administered it five times that week.

Ms Mulholland said shortly after 2 a.m Mr Gethings started to call out that he was dying again and she went to him where she tried to console him and asked him what was wrong.

She said that Ms Baxter, then walked up and said: "What’s wrong. Get him to shut the f**k up. He’s going to wake the whole f**king ward up."

Det. Gda O’Sullivan said Ms Mulholland claimed she told the man she was going to give him something to settle him before she went into the treatment room with Ms Baxter who, she said, filled out Mr Gethings’ chart as she prepared an intra muscular injection of Serenase.

The accused told gardaí she checked that everything was done correctly as per the regulations and checked Mr Gethings’ chart with Ms Baxter before she drew up the Serenase into a syringe and used a blue needle to inject him in the right buttock.

Det. Gda O’Sullivan said she told gardaí that she accepted an offer of help from Ms Baxter who turned Mr Gethings onto his side to allow her to administer the injection.

She said she checked later on Mr Gethings who seemed to have settled down and when she looked in on him the next morning he was sitting up in bed and seemed to have improved.

Ms Mulholland told gardaí she didn’t know what doctor had prescribed Mr Gethings the Serenase and denied that PO only was written on his chart next to the drug.

She accepted that a handwriting expert might have concluded that IM was written in on the chart in a different pen to the rest of the perspiration but denied writing it herself.

Det. Gda O’Sullivan said the accused said she didn’t know why Ms Baxter claimed she had used a white needle rather than a blue needle to administer the injection and said she would never use a white needle apart from mixing medications.

Det. Gda O’Sullivan said the gardaí then told Ms Mulholland that State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, had concluded from a post mortem carried out on Mr Gethings, that a deep muscle bruise on his left buttock indicated he had been given an intra muscular injection there.

She replied that she had injected Mr Gethings right buttock and that he hadn’t received any injections to the left side of his body.

Ms Katherine Kennedy-Arnold, Director of Nurse on Call, a nursing agency that employed Ms Mulholland told Mr Giollaiosa O Lideadha SC, (with Ms Anne B Rowland BL), defending, that a reference from Blackrock Clinic dated November 13th 2002 described the accused as a "well motivated and committed nurse, with an empathetic manner who was kind and caring to patients and their families and had excellent communication skills".

The trial continues before Judge Frank O’Donnell and a jury of six women and six men.