Negligent Nurse Who Lost License Still Working in Canada
In 2001 Spencer Sullivan had elective surgery for neck and back pain at the University of California San Francisco Medical Centre. The surgery went well and there were no complications.
Negligent Nursing Care
But while Sullivan was in the hospital recuperating his nurse, Rose McKenzie, gave him two different types of pain medication without checking with the doctors who were in charge of Sullivan’s care. McKenzie then failed to monitor Sullivan throughout the night.
Severe Brain Injury
The next morning Sullivan was unresponsive and suffered a severe brain injury and quadriplegia. Sullivan’s family sued McKenzie and the hospital and in 2005 settled out of court for $6 Million.
Nursing License Revoked
In 2008 the State of California revoked McKenzie’s nursing license for gross negligence.
Working in Canada
But since 2002 McKenzie has been working as a nurse in Ontario at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. Until recently she was in good standing with the College of Nurses of Ontario.
Communication Critical
In Canada, doctors are regulated by their provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons. If a provincial College makes a disciplinary finding that affects the license of a doctor, the College notifies all regulatory bodies in Canada and the United States.
Nursing Organizations Don’t Talk to Each Other
Incredibly, the regulatory bodies that license nurses in North America do not have any standard practice for sharing information regarding disciplinary offences against nurses!
In Canada nurses are required to self report to their provincial licensing body if they are being investigated for professional negligence or misconduct.
They are also expected to report any findings against them.
But there does not appear to be any system in place to check to make sure that nurses actually tell the College of Nurses when they have been disciplined.
The various provincial nursing bodies also don’t have a system in place to communicate with one another when a nurse transfers from one jurisdiction to another.
So a negligent nurse like Rose McKenzie can nearly kill someone, leave them paralyzed, lose her license to practice…and then just move to Canada and carry on treating patients.
If you or a loved one have suffered injuries that you think may be due to medical malpractice you can buy a copy of my book: The Consumer’s Guide to Medical Malpractice Claims in Canada: Why 98% of Canadian Medical Malpractice Victims Never Receive a Penny in Compensation. on Amazon.
Or you can contact me through this blog or by calling toll free in Atlantic Canada 1-877-423-2050 and we will send you a copy, free, anywhere in the Maritimes.
