A nurse has been disqualified for showing "defective decision-making" and a disregard for the "most fundamental needs" when he left a man with severe disabilities to suffer inside a hot van.
In a judgment published on Thursday, the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal made that disqualification order, among others, for registered nurse Radwick Deeranyika, who also worked as a disability support worker for a private company.
An agreed statement of facts tendered to the tribunal and the ACT Magistrates Court reads that in January 2020 when Deeranyika worked at a residential disability care home, he was caring for a client who suffers from a severe intellectual disability, diabetes, scoliosis, and severe epilepsy.
Deeranyika drove himself and the client, who requires 24-hour supervision as he is non-verbal and has no dexterity or fine-motor movement in his hands, to an activity at Black Mountain before going to Deeranyika's home.
There, the client was left in the vehicle, a minivan, with the front passenger window down 4-5cm.
A member of the public saw the client appearing to be groggy inside about 80 minutes after first noticing him inside.
"The client was slumped forward. His tongue was hanging out with saliva rolling off it," the judgment states.
After police arrived, Deeranyika appeared to be confused, drowsy, and unresponsive.
Deeranyika's explanation was that he was unwell and he went home so he could obtain medication and use the bathroom.
The Magistrates Court convicted and fined Deeranyika after he pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a work health and safety duty.
The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia then filed an application in the tribunal for disciplinary action against Deeranyika, who did not challenge the application.
The tribunal found Deeranyika had engaged in professional misconduct based on the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.
In the Thursday judgment, senior member Mary Brennan on behalf of the tribunal said the nurse's offending "demonstrates seriously defective decision-making and a disregard for the client's most fundamental needs".
Ms Brennan said Deeranyika's reason for going home "does not explain why the nurse did not contact a manager to report his ill health or take the client into his home if there were no colleagues available to provide assistance".
"While we would hope and perhaps anticipate that after his prosecution and this action that the likelihood of the nurse acting in a way that is a ground for occupational discipline in the future is slim, we are not certain of this," she said.
Ms Brennan said Deeranyika providing different versions of key details suggested "a lack of honesty ... or at best, a carelessness with the truth, which leads us to consider that there remains a risk to the public".
While Deeranyika was working as a disability support worker and not as a registered nurse when the offending occurred, this did not prevent the tribunal considering his conduct under the National Law.
Ms Brennan also cited the code of conduct for nurses applying to any work where a practitioner uses nursing skills and knowledge, whether clinical or non-clinical.
Among the orders the board sought were for Deeranyika to receive a reprimand and for his registration be cancelled and to prohibit him from re-applying for registration for two years.
The tribunal reprimanded Deeranyika and cancelled his registration. He is disqualified for 12 months in relation to re-applying to be a registered health practitioner.
A prohibition order that restricts him from working in the aged care or disability sector for two years was also made.
"The nurse himself did not oppose this order being made. His lack of critical thinking, insight and honesty, lead us to consider that it is not appropriate that he works in the sectors for this time," Ms Brennan said.
Deeranyika, who had not faced any previous application for disciplinary actions, was also ordered to pay the board's costs of the legal proceedings.
