A Filipino nurse who taped over the mouth of a patient wept throughout his court appearance on a charge of assault as the trial heard that the incident was a "moment of complete stupidity".
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| Nurse, Bimbo Paden, 39, who is from the Phillipines, arriving at Sligo District Court. |
Sligo District Court heard how Filipino-born Bimbo Paden, 39, had been left alone to care for nine patients in an "inequitable and unsafe" hospital, a damning HSE (Health Service Executive) report read to a court has said.
He sobbed during the hearing, with a judge in the case saying he had "broken under the stress".
The father of three has admitted using surgical tape on patient Kevin Quinn at St John's long-term care hospital in Sligo last June.
Mr Quinn, 49, of Loughbear, Rathmullen, Ballymote, Co Sligo has been a patient at the hospital requiring 24-hour care since suffering a brain haemorrhage 13 years ago.
In his statement in which he expressed "deep remorse", the nurse detailed how he started work on the day of the assault at 8.30am.
He had to deal with nine patients, all with multiple needs and most needing to be washed, toileted, dressed and fed.
Others needed to be hoisted out of bed and put into wheelchairs before being taken to other parts of the hospital. Around 90 minutes into his shift, said Paden, Mr Quinn had been shouting and upsetting a patient suffering from the later stages of cancer.
He said he had rubbed Mr Quinn's shoulder and tried to reassure him, but as the noise continued he had "in a moment of complete stupidity" placed surgical tape over his mouth.
The HSE report found Paden's allocated workload was "inequitable and unsafe".
He had worked in a "risky working environment with little support and inadequate management".
The report found that Paden, who has been in Ireland for 12 years working as a nurse, was "deeply remorseful" but that there could be "no excuse" for what had happened.
Judge Kilrane said the case was "too important" not to be given the "greatest consideration", and he asked for a psychiatric report on Paden before he would pass sentence.
He adjourned the case until April 10.--Source: Herald.ie