BC nurse suspended for having sexual relationship with patient

A BC nurse who had a sexual relationship with a patient has been suspended for 12 months.

According to a June 27 BC College of Nurses and Midwives decision, the relationship lasted for several months over the summer of 2023.

The nursing regulator hasn’t identified the nurse or said where in BC they worked because at the time of the sexual relationship, the nurse suffered from a health condition that was a “factor in their conduct.”

The decision doesn’t say what the health condition was, or why it would make the nurse break their ethical responsibilities and sleep with a patient.

According to the College, it is prohibited for nurses to have personal and intimate relationships with clients, even if it is consensual.

“The nurse-client relationship is the foundation of nursing practice across all populations and cultures and in all practice settings. It is therapeutic and focuses on the needs of the client. It is based on trust, respect and professional intimacy, and it requires the appropriate use of authority. The nurse-client relationship is conducted within boundaries that separate professional and therapeutic behaviour from non-professional and non-therapeutic behaviour,” the decision reads. “A breach of these professional boundaries can harm both the client and the nurse-client relationship.”

Along with a 12-month suspension, the nurse is also barred from community nursing for months after they get back to work. They will also be followed by a counsellor for 12 months if they return to community nursing.

Last month, the College reprimanded Langley nurse Sherri Hedberg for having a relationship with a client with mental health and substance use issues in 2004 and 2005.

Hedberg had already been banned from nursing for five years for having an “emotionally intimate relationship” with a vulnerable patient in 2023.