Nurse asks for lawyer in misconduct hearing

A disciplinary hearing for Marlon Gonzales, a nurse accused of professional misconduct, including sexual harassment when he worked at the Balcarres Integrated Care Centre, was thrown into disarray on Thursday after Gonzales made a surprise request to be allowed to find a lawyer.

On Wednesday, the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association tribunal heard from four witnesses who detailed numerous instances of alleged harassment with Gonzales at the centre. One, a 23-yearold woman, claimed Gonzales had asked about her virginity, asked to give her foot massages and even followed her from work in his car after her last shift.

Having decided to represent himself, Gonzales had cross-examined four of a total of six witnesses, contesting much of what they claimed. On Thursday, however, he said that as English was his second language, he felt he had not been able to defend himself effectively. Gonzales is a native of the Philippines, and had been repeatedly asked to clarify his remarks on Wednesday.

He said he would have preferred to have had counsel from the start, but cost became an issue once funding from his union was exhausted.

Speaking on Gonzales’ behalf at the hearing, his wife Wyndy Nippi — who had not been present on Wednesday — said “having a lawyer would help him construct better arguments against these people, who are obviously pooling their complaints against him.”

She claimed that lies had been told by witnesses under oath, and ended by saying the hearing should be declared a mistrial.

Roger Lepage, counsel for the investigative committee, did not try to block the adjournment but said he found the request “deeply troubling.”

He said he felt it would set a precedent for other cases where accused people were self-defending, and argued that previously heard testimony should not have to be repeated. He said Gonzales had been urged to strongly consider his decision to defend himself, but had still chosen to proceed.

“Absolutely not,” Lepage said when asked if the women — some of whom had broken down in tears at Wednesday’s hearing — should be made to testify again. However, the panel said that it was not ruling out the possibility that the hearing may need to re-start from scratch.

The panel adjourned the matter to an Oct. 13 conference call, when a decision will be made on how the hearing is to proceed.