Nurse sacked for offering a Bible to cancer patient was fairly dismissed
A NURSE who was sacked after offering a Bible to a cancer patient and encouraging him to sing The Lord is My Shepherd was fairly dismissed, appeal judges have ruled.
Sarah Kuteh lost her job at Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, Kent, in 2016 after repeatedly talking to patients about her faith and handing out Bibles, in breach of Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) rules.
A patient complained about Mrs Kuteh’s conduct in June 2016, the Court of Appeal ruling noted.
The patient likened the incident – in which she encouraged him to sing Psalm 23 with her – to a ‘Monty Python skit’.
The ruling, which upheld a 2017 employment tribunal decision that Mrs Kuteh was fairly dismissed by the Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust, said a cancer patient complained about his assessment by the nurse on June 3, 2016.
‘He had replied “open minded” to the question on the form concerning religion and alleged the claimant had told him that the only way he could get to the Lord was through Jesus,’ it said.
‘(She) told him she would give him her bible if he did not have one; gripped his hand tightly and said a prayer that was very intense and went “on and on”, and asked him to sing Psalm 23 [The Lord is My Shepherd]. He described the encounter as “very bizarre” and “like a Monty Python skit”.’
The court documents also point to other incidents, in which Mrs Kuteh told a bowel cancer patient in April 2016 ‘that if he prayed to God he would have a better chance of survival’. Another complaint in April came from a patient who said Mrs Kuteh ‘spent more time talking about religion than doing the assessment’. A third in the same month came from a patient who said they didn’t want to see the nurse because they ‘didn’t like preaching’.
Mrs Kuteh, 50, was suspended from her job in June 2016 and sacked for gross misconduct that August, with her dismissal upheld by an employment tribunal later the same year. The loss of her job meant she had to sell her house in Bexley, Kent, leaving her and her three daughters squeezed into a one-bedroom flat.
Last year Mrs Kuteh told how her Christianity had been no secret at Darent Valley Hospital – she even ran a monthly prayer group. ‘All I had done was to nurse and care for patients,’ she said. ‘How could it ever be harmful to tell someone about Jesus?
‘I am serious about my religion but I don’t think I impose my religion on people.’
She appealed against the tribunal ruling in 2017. Although she failed to have her sacking overturned, she was allowed to work as a nurse again in July last year after her working restrictions were lifted by the NMC.
The Christian Legal Centre – which represents Mrs Kuteh – said she was discussing her next steps with her legal team.
‘Like a Monty Python skit’