HUMBER COLLEGE

Scholarly Essay; Ethics

Sally Jirjodhan
822 574 604
11/7/2014
Sylwia Wojtalik
NURS 217

Sally Jirjodhan |2

The college of nurses of Ontario has many ways by which it protects the public. One of
the biggest ways that it protects the public is by addressing issues and concerns of nurses to
determine competences. The college assess the nurses on a variety of bases such as knowledge
and competence, physical and metal preventions of safe practice, and the health of the nurse in
itself. The college of nurses will evaluate the issue or concern at hand about the nurse in question
and the college discipline committee will decide what will happen to the nurse. In this particular
concern, a nurse was brought up to the college with regards to committing the act of professional
misconduct. A nurse by the name of David Rivard engaged in sexual harassment by which he
made frequent remarks of sexual nature to her, verbally abused a client, failed to meet the
standards of practice of the profession by making remarks of an inappropriate and/or sexually
suggestive nature and failing to maintain boundaries (College of Nurses Ontario, D.R. 2012),
and engaged in dishonourable, unprofessional, and disgraceful conduct. The nurse in question
began the initial harassment on November 13-14 2010 where he noticed the patient was not
wearing any undergarments and as stated he had a hard time not looking, but tried not to
(College of Nurses Ontario, D.R. 2012). At the time the client was married with children and
grandchildren and the nurse that was caring for her was aware of this fact. The patient suffered
from apparent focal epilepsy and repeatedly experienced seizures. The patient was admitted onto
the unit to be monitored for electrical activity of the brain and record samplings of a typical
seizure also known as video-EEG telemetry. The time of the alleged harassment was during an
overnight shift while the patient was sleeping and the nurse was on a break. The patient was in
the care of the nurse (RPN) and another nurse (RN) at the time of the incident. Each nurse is
allowed breaks and at the time of the incident, the RN was on break so the nurse was the only
one caring for the patient at the time. At the time, the nurse was not experiencing any mental

Sally Jirjodhan |3

deficiencies that prevent them from providing safe care. The nurse stated that his main intention
with the patient was to see the client topless...he wanted to see her breasts (College of Nurses
Ontario, D.R. 2012). The nurse accused of the allegations made it clear of what his purpose was
with the patient. The nurses employment was terminated and the college of nurses committee
came to the decision that the nurse must attend a variety of meetings and sessions with a nurse
expert, and the nurses licence was suspended. Based on the committees decision, I find that I
do agree with their decision on how they wish to penalize the nurse but I feel that based on the
circumstances they went a little easy on him. I feel that the time frame given for the nurse to take
classes and such should go one for a much longer period of time and that once that period is up,
the nurse should have to display safe practice and appropriate work ethics before being fully
allowed back into the workplace. The nurse in question broke many ethical values by which the
CNO had based their decisions on.
When nurses commit wrongful deeds in the workplace, they put the patients safety and
health at risk but also break ethical values. The list of ethical values is extensive and can narrow
down the main problem after an issue has been brought up. The allegations made towards this
nurse break many ethical values. The first ethical value that is contravened is the therapeutic
nurse client relationship. As a nurse the CNO lays out rules and regulations that one must follow
in order to provide best and safe practice. The therapeutic relationship is established and
maintained by the nurse through the nurses use of professional nursing knowledge, skill, and
caring attitudes and behaviours to provide nursing services that contribute to the clients health
and well-being Ethics (2009). Based on this allegation, the nurse broke this ethical value
because he harmed the relationship with his patient. When caring for a patient one must achieve
a level of trust with the patient so that they can provide the best care. When a patient does not

Sally Jirjodhan |4

trust their nurse, then they will be afraid to have them care for them and therefore denying the
best care that they can receive. The nurse in this case had such a trust and then ruined in when he
made sexual remarks to the patient and made inappropriate gestures. As stated by the client she
...cried in the bathroom and later in bed, felt afraid, and felt violated (College of Nurses
Ontario, D.R. 2012). The nurse possesses knowledge and skill that allow them to care for a
patient as well as know how far the level of intimacy is allowed to go. The nurse abused that
knowledge and skill and took advantage of his power with the care of his patient. Along with the
contravening on the therapeutic relationship, the nurse broke the client well being.
The clients well being means to help a patient regain their health and wellbeing by
preventing further harm from coming to them. With regards to this, sometimes what the nurse
thinks is best to restore a patients health contradicts with what the patient wants. Patients have
the right to refuse so it is in his best interest of the nurse to educate the patient on the importance
of the care being provided otherwise try and accommodate for their needs. The nurse ignored the
fact that the patient is there to regain their health and the sexual remarks made by the nurse put
the patient backwards in the healing process by putting fear in her of the hospital setting as well
as forcing her to leave the hospital before she was ready. The nurse disregarded the patients well
being and was only concerned with what he wanted. The patient now has another health issue by
which they need to deal with which is the fear that the place that was supposed to make her
better has caused more harm than good. Whether or not the patient will be able to re-enter the
health care system when harm comes their way will now be a tough decision for the patient and
determine if they get better or not. Another ethical value that has been contravened is
maintaining commitments to oneself.

Sally Jirjodhan |5

As a nurse or rather as a person, one has values by which they follow and/or live by
which in turn define who they are. Through life experiences or family values, one develops self
commitments that they live by. An example of a self commitment would be that one will never
cause intentional harm to another human being. These values and beliefs allow one to be true to
them self. If we value our commitments then we will have no problem standing by them. As a
nurse, one develops many self commitments that prepare them to deal with the vulnerable
population. In terms of nursing, it does not say that one must abandon their belief system in order
to care for a patient. But it does say that ethical care must be provided. If a nurse feels that he/she
is incapable of providing adequate care for a patient then they can and should make alternate
arrangements for another nurse to have care over them. When the nurse felt that he was crossing
boundaries when he was distracted by the patient when he noticed she was not wearing any
underwear. Rather than remove himself from the situation he disregarded what he knew was
right and allowed himself to be persuaded by his own wants and desires which resulted in putting
the client in more harm. Having the ability and knowledge to know when you can no longer care
for the patient is not something that will be scrutinized but rather benefit the patient whom you
may have harmed if you continued care. As a result of this nurses actions, the patient will now
have additional problems added to their plate of things to deal with because one nurse abused his
power and ignored what was right. This nurse couldve avoided contravening many of these
ethical values but chose to ignore what was right and what is best for the patient and went with
what he desired. In order to prevent another incident like this from happening again, I would
establish each nurse to have their values and beliefs written out and posted on the unit where
everyone can see it so that every day they can be reminded of who they are and what they
believe in. Another idea that I have in order to prevent an incident like this from happening again

Sally Jirjodhan |6

would be to have the nurses provide evidence of competency so that you know what they know
and what areas of knowledge they lack in and where they need the most help for improvement
and advancement. Big or small, changes or additions to a system can make a huge difference in
the workplace.
A nurse is trained to possess the skills and knowledge necessary for the care of
individuals in need of regaining their health. They have an obligation to the patient and the
health care system to provide the best care possible for the patient. D.R. abused his power and
disregarded all rights, values, and ethics by giving in to temptation and placing the patient in
harms way. There are many ethical values that as a nurse and even as a human being that one
should respect and follow. Nurses are obligated to follow specific ethical values which allow a
nurse to provide client-centered care while also maintaining a safe relationship with the patient
without putting them in harms way. The nurse in question is accused of contravening many
ethical values. Three ethical values in particular that he compromises are therapeutic nurse-client
relationship, client well-being, and lastly commitments to oneself. The nurse violates all these
ethical values by crossing boundaries and attempting to engage in an inappropriate manner with
the client as well as the use of sexual remarks towards her. The nurse also disregards the purpose
of his job which is to provide care for the patient and look out for their well being. Instead the
nurse put the patient under more stress and very well may have slowed down her healing
process. Lastly, as a nurse there is not only an obligation to provide the best care for a patient but
to maintain ones own values of right and wrong and remove yourself from a situation that you
feel will jeopardize the health of the patient or break ones own values. Nurses are here to protect
aid and facilitate in the healing of those in a vulnerable state and reintegrate them back into
society with the best health capable.

Sally Jirjodhan |7

WORKS CITED

College of Nurses of Ontario, (2009). Ethics. Retrived on November 9th, 2014 from
http://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/education/understanding_eeg_and_video_telemetry/

College of Nurses of Ontario v D.R. (2012). Retrieved on November 9th 2014 from
http://www.cno.org/en/protect-public/discipline-decisions/

Benioff Childrens Hospital, (2002-2014). Understanding EEG Video Telemetry.

Retrieved on November 9th, 2014 from
http://www.ucsfbenioffchildrens.org/education/understanding_eeg_and_video_telemetry/