Consultant accused of assault at hospice
‘Distressing incident’
A CONSULTANT doctor ‘laughed loudly’ after assaulting a nurse at a hospice, a complaint received by the HSE has alleged.
The consultant, who denies the allegation, responded by claiming that a series of complaints made against him by the nurse over a period of more than a decade constituted bullying.
The alleged attack was described as ‘shocking, horrible and frightening’, by the senior nurse.
The conflict between the two colleagues, who worked at a hospice in the HSE West area, dates back to 2003. The consultant has had a policy of restricting ‘all verbal communication’ with the nurse since 2007.
The dispute culminated in an incident that allegedly occurred in December 2014.
In a letter to HSE management, released under the Freedom of Information Act, the nurse alleged she was the victim of an attack that had left her ‘shaken and fearful’.
‘Whilst attempting to engage [the consultant] in a professional manner, he refused to discuss it and instead proceeded to behave in an extremely threatening manner,’ the nurse wrote.
‘He ferociously ordered me to leave his office and, whilst I was still speaking, he pushed the door against me and forced me into the corridor, causing me to momentarily loose [sic] my balance. I heard him laugh loudly as I staggered into the corridor, before he shut the door firmly in my face.’
She claimed the incident had been part of a campaign by the consultant to ridicule, humiliate and isolate her.
The consultant was notified of the complaint and responded through his solicitor, who said that the incident ‘simply did not occur’.
‘Please be advised that there is a long history preceding this complaint and you might note that [the nurse] has made numerous complaints against our client since 2003 to date, some 12 years,’ they wrote.
The solicitor noted that a HSE investigation in 2007 had found the nurse’s previous complaints were unsubstantiated. They claimed that the ‘campaign’ against the consultant constituted bullying.
The letter formally requested this complaint of bullying be investigated, and said the consultant would likely be forced to take leave from his job if the nurse returned to the workplace.
Last May, an adjudication hearing of the WRC ordered the HSE to pay €12,500 in compensation to the nurse because it had failed to investigate her complaint more than two years after it was made.
In its ruling, the WRC said the HSE should begin its probe within two weeks and should not take more than four weeks to finish it.
A spokesperson for the HSE declined to answer when asked whether the investigation had begun or concluded.