Saucy snap as patient died
A NURSE who posed for a rude selfie as a patient lay dying nearby has been struck off.
Michelle Vaughan was pictured bending over while a man stood behind her “imitating a sexual position”.
The snap was posted online following a Christmas Day shift at a nursing home.
A disciplinary panel heard that while Vaughan was taking the saucy picture, a resident in a nearby room was nearing the end of his life. She also tried to order cocaine at work, and slept on duty.
Colleagues finally blew the whistle on Vaughan, whose poor clinical practice posed “a serious risk of potential harm” to patients at Tapton Grove Nursing Home in Chesterfield, Derbys.
The registered nurse was involved in a catalogue of incidents between March 2014 and January 2017 that eventually led to her being sacked in March last year.
A panel of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s Fitness to Practice Committee heard that Vaughan posed for the rude photograph in the residents’ lounge while she was the nurse in charge of the shift.
The grandmother claimed she was bending over to pick up a pen while the unidentified male was nearby, but the panel did not accept this.
In its report it said: “The panel was of the view that this behaviour at work was inappropriate, especially given the panel was informed that a resident was at the end of his life in a nearby room.” On February 17 last year, the panel heard, the nurse texted a colleague in a bid to buy cocaine while on duty. It was also common knowledge among staff that she often slept during shifts.
The panel struck off Vaughan and called her actions “deplorable”. It added: “The misconduct is very serious, the most serious was attempting to purchase Class A drugs and have them delivered to her place of work whilst on duty.”
Speaking at her home in Chesterfield, Vaughan said: “I’m happy with their findings.”