Kelowna ER nurse left Indigenous person ‘pulseless and unresponsive’

A Kelowna emergency room nurse who left a "pulseless and unresponsive" Indigenous person in the vestibule of the emergency department assuming they were dead has been reprimanded.

According to a Jan. 25, B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives decision, registered nurse Katherine Lowe found the Indigenous person in the vestibule of the emergency department in September 2021.

The individual had no pulse and was unresponsive.

However, "Lowe did not adequately assess or perform any resuscitative measures, concluding they were deceased," the decision read.

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The decision said Lowe then failed to document the incident fully.

The nurse has since let her registration lapse, but the nursing regulator said if she should reapply she will have certain conditions imposed and a two-month suspension.

The College said she breached ethical practice, documentation, client-focused provision of care and duty to provide care standards.

No other information is given in the decision.

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