German nurse left dementia patient ‘at risk’
‘Unaware of her needs’
A GERMAN nurse with a ‘lack of compassion’ has been suspended after leaving a dementia sufferer sitting on the toilet in the dark.
Gabriele Maeule left the frail and vulnerable lady alone at Latham Park Care Home in Edinburgh in May 2015.
The ‘constantly disoriented’ woman, referred to as Resident A, was in a ‘state of agitation’ and should not have been left alone as she was at ‘high risk of falling’.
Mrs Maeule also told her she was ugly and smelly, a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) panel in London heard.
The nurse, who had worked only five shifts at the home, responded to the charges by sending a message: ‘The hearing is not important to me. I don’t come back to the UK in the next few years.’
At the hearing in her absence, she was banned from nursing for nine months.
Panel chairman Polly Clarke said: ‘The panel found that by leaving Resident A, who suffered from dementia and had a high risk of falling, alone in the toilet, Mrs Maeule had put her at unwarranted risk of harm. This risk was exacerbated by the fact she had not read Resident A’s care plan and was unaware of her needs.
‘By putting Resident A in a dangerous situation and speaking to her in a derogatory way, Mrs Maeule brought the profession into disrepute and lacked basic human compassion.’
It was found proved that Mrs Maeule left Resident A on the toilet alone for one minute and turned the light off on the way out, having not read her care plan. It was also proved she said, ‘Your face looks very ugly,’ and described her as ‘stinking’.
A charge that she closed the door as Resident A sat in the dark was found not proved, as Mrs Maeule had ‘left the door ajar’.
Maeule has more than 30 years experience as a nurse in her native Germany.
But her fitness to practice was found to be impaired and she was suspended from the NMC register for nine months.