Nurse disciplined for poor treatment of patient

Moose Jaw LPN fined, must take extra training, write essay

A Moose Jaw nurse who previously ran as a provincial NDP candidate pleaded guilty to professional misconduct after mistreating a patient who had Crohn’s disease.

Karen Purdy was ordered to pay $5,000 to the Saskatchewan Association of Licensed Practical Nurses (SALPN) during her Wednesday afternoon disciplinary hearing in Regina.

The patient, who was referred to simply as P.R. during the hearing, was not present.

Investigation committee lawyer Connor Clyde said the man described his five-day stay at Wigmore Regional Hospital in Moose Jaw as “pure hell,” in part due to Purdy’s conduct on Jan. 1, 2016.

Purdy snapped her fingers at the man as an order to turn over so she could change his Attends adult diaper. She then left the soiled diaper and wipes on the floor of his hospital room, which Purdy’s lawyer Bob Hale said was a “pure oversight” on her part.

She told the man in front of his family that he would end up in a nursing home, laying in bed and soiling himself, which caused mental distress to the man and his family.

“To this day, he is reluctant to attend at hospitals,” said Clyde, who acknowledged the importance of being realistic with patients, but said compassion should be shown as well.

Unable to reach the toilet due to his intravenous hookup, the man defecated in a garbage can, at which point Purdy “scolded him and asked him if he did this at home,” said Clyde. That “made P.R. feel degraded, embarrassed and humiliated.”

The last charge related more to patient safety.

With the IV machine beeping alerts every 20 minutes, Purdy broke the rules in instructing the man’s family on how to silence or restart the machine.

That left the family “effectively acting as health-care professionals,” said Clyde.

Hale called it “an error in judgment” and an attempt to appease the man’s family members, who were getting annoyed that the man’s rest was being interrupted.

As penalty, Purdy must complete a code of ethics learning module and an interpersonal communications course, write a reflective essay about the incident, and pay $5,000 to SALPN, to cover less than half of the costs of the investigation and hearing.

Further, Purdy will have to submit a copy of the disciplinary decision to current and future employers for the next two years.

Hale pointed out this was the first complaint about Purdy, who has been a LPN since 2006.

He added that, at the time of the incidents, Purdy was enduring stress in her personal life, although “we have never raised that as any sort of excuse.”

Purdy ran for the NDP in the 2016 provincial election campaign and became part of a controversy after MP Tom Lukiwski made a speech in support of Purdy’s Sask. Party opponent in which he referred to either an “NDP whore” or, as Lukiwski claims he said, an “NDP horde.”

“I was disappointed in Mr. Lukiwski,” Purdy, the NDP candidate for Wakamow, said at the time. “I think we all deserve an apology.”

Purdy wrote a letter of apology to her patient. Clyde pointed out she had spelled the man’s name wrong and that the letter overall had “a rather generic feel to it.”

Hale called it “an entirely appropriate apology letter,” and said Purdy would have liked to apologize to the man in person.

“It’s unfortunate that the complainant isn’t here,” said Hale.