Health and Disability Commissioner: Nurse who ‘sexually exploited’ patient referred to Director of Proceedings

The Health and Disciplinary Commissioner has been investigating a "gross boundary violation" after a patient complained of sexual assault. Photo / NZME

A patient who complained of being sexually assaulted by a nurse did not receive any contact or apology from the hospital for two years.

The failure of the hospital to do so “compounded the harm” caused to the patient by a “gross boundary violation”, according to the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC).

The names and genders of the people involved, which hospital and the date the incident happened have not been disclosed in a case summary released by the HDC on Monday.

However, the summary says the patient reported the matter to police at the time, and the HDC has now referred the nurse to its director of proceedings, a lawyer who makes independent decisions on whether cases before the HDC require further action.

That action might include a charge being laid before the Health Practitioners’ Disciplinary Tribunal, proceedings at the Human Rights Review Tribunal, or both.

The patient’s contact with the HDC sparked an investigation into both the incident and health agency Te Whatu Ora’s management of the subsequent complaint.

The deputy health and disciplinary commissioner, Dr Vanessa Caldwell, said the patient was admitted to hospital after being injured.

“On the second night of the patient’s stay, whilst they were sleeping, the nurse sexually assaulted the patient,” the summary said.

The patient confronted the nurse the next day in the presence of other staff, and made a formal report to the hospital and to police.

“The patient subsequently complained that after the initial report, the hospital did not contact them or apologise for the incident, until they made a further complaint two years later.”

Caldwell considered the nurse “sexually exploited” the patient and, accordingly, breached the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights.

Caldwell further considered that Te Whatu Ora’s handling of the complaint was inadequate and also in breach of the code.

She was critical that Te Whatu Ora did not acknowledge the patient’s complaint, keep them regularly on the progress of its investigation, or offer an apology “in a timely manner”.

Caldwell formed the view these actions compounded the harm experienced by the patient.

She recommended Te Whatu Ora use the case to develop education and training for hospital staff to appropriately manage reports of criminal acts.

The full copy of the report has not been released to protect the privacy of the people involved, HDC said.

The commission usually publishes the names of health providers and public hospitals found in breach of the code, but not if it would “unfairly compromise” privacy.

The outcome of the police complaint is not known.

Ric Stevens spent many years working for the former New Zealand Press Association news agency, including as a political reporter at Parliament, before holding senior positions at various daily newspapers. He joined NZME’s Open Justice team in 2022 and is based in Hawke’s Bay.