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Chidiebere Anyaegbunam, AF167292
The Member was not present nor was he represented by legal counsel at the hearing. The hearing proceeded in his absence.
Facts
During the Member’s orientation on a palliative/continuing complex care unit in October 2018, the Member failed to appropriately document and attempted to administer medications contrary to the direction of his preceptors. When one patient choked on the medications and juice, the Member pushed the patient forward and banged on their back without warning, causing the patient to become agitated and incontinent of urine.
In November 2018, the Member made inappropriate comments regarding other nursing staff, including that he “knew women”, gossiping was “a woman thing”, expressing anger that other nurses should not be criticizing his work, that he did not need to be “babysat”, and that he did not need to take direction from “these girls”.
In a separate incident in November 2018, the Member did not properly waste a controlled substance and then spoke angrily to the pharmacy technician when the technician advised the Member that he had to waste the medication properly or the pharmacy would need to do it and prepare an incident report.
Discipline Committee’s Findings
A Panel of the Discipline Committee of the College of Nurses of Ontario (the “Panel”) found the Member committed the following professional misconduct:
- contravened a standard of practice of the profession or failed to meet the standards of practice of the profession;
- failed to keep records as required; and
- engaged in conduct, relevant to the practice of nursing, that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as dishonourable and unprofessional.
Discipline Committee’s Order
The Panel made an order that included the following:
- an oral reprimand;
- a 4-month suspension; and
- terms, conditions, and limitations including:
- attending at least 2 meetings with a Regulatory Expert; and
- employer notification for 18 months.
The Panel noted that the 18-month employer notification period should reassure the public and future patients that employers have been notified of the Member’s misconduct and his practice will be closely monitored.
The Panel also ordered the Member to pay $4,800 in costs to the College of Nurses of Ontario, which is approximately 50% of the pre-hearing costs. The Panel had determined that the Member took unnecessary steps to delay the discipline hearing.
