An internal inquiry into claims that the woman, known as Nurse Z, administered unusually high doses of sedatives was told last week that questions were raised about her nursing practices.
She was suspended last month after allegedly administering a large dose of sedative to an elderly patient. The hospital management reported the deaths of two elderly patients in her care to the gardai. The body of one of the patients, John Gethings, was exhumed 10 days ago. The results of a toxicology report are expected within the next fortnight.
The internal inquiry was told last week that Nurse Z was alleged to have administered drugs that were not documented on the patient’s chart or prescribed; that the method of administering drugs did not follow procedures in charting and dosage; and that her administering of the drug to patients was regarded as unnecessarily forceful.
Up to four nurses have provided statements to the inquiry, chaired by Liam Dunbar, a former head of St James’s hospital in Dublin. Nurse Z, who is in her thirties, had worked at Naas general hospital in Kildare for six months.
She is understood to have qualified in America and worked abroad before returning to Ireland. She signed up with an agency, Nurse On Call, which dispatched her on temporary placements. She worked briefly at Tallaght hospital and at the Blackrock clinic before going to Naas. Inquiries have begun at both hospitals. The records of more than 500 patients whom she treated are expected to be examined.
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The inquiry was told that one nurse became concerned several months ago allegedly because of the rough manner in which Nurse Z was administering drugs to patients. She came forward with her concerns in July, after a second nurse alleged that the nurse had administered excessively high doses of drugs to a patient.
A source close to the investigation said questions had been raised about Nurse Z’s practices. The nursing agency has forwarded its records on her to the Dunbar inquiry.
Gethings, 77, from Baltinglass, Co Wicklow, died in March at Naas hospital. If the post-mortem reveals anything unusual, gardai will exhume a second body, that of a patient aged between 50 and 60.
Professor Denis Cusack, the Kildare coroner, described two deaths at the hospital as possibly “unnatural”. He applied for the exhumation.