Nurse Peter Lawless awaits penalty for professional misconduct after kissing patient on cheek, making inappropriate remarks

An experienced ICU nurse awaits his penalty after his “inexcusable” behaviour towards a female patient, a tribunal heard.

An experienced nurse’s conduct has been slammed as “inexcusable” after he commented on a patient’s “magnificent goodies” and kissed her, a tribunal heard.

The South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal found Peter John Paul Lawless’ actions amounted to professional misconduct.

In a judgment published online this month, the tribunal heard Mr Lawless was working as an experienced registered nurse in the Intensive Care Unit at the Calvary North Adelaide Hospital in April 2018.

He was tasked to look after a patient who was recovering from surgery under spinal anaesthesia.

She was immobile and reliant on nursing staff for her toileting, with the tribunal noting the patient was in a physically vulnerable condition.

Nurse Peter Lawless’ actions were slammed as inexcusable. Picture: iStock

The tribunal heard Mr Lawless was charged with three counts of indecent assault against the patient, accused of giving her a massage, inappropriately touching her breast and kissing her on the cheek.

After a trial, the first charge was dismissed because the magistrate was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the massage was not clinically appropriate.

The second charge was also dismissed because the magistrate found that any touching of the breast was momentary and during the process of removing an ECG dot or applying lotion, which was done as part of nursing care.

The third charge was dismissed as the magistrate was not satisfied that Mr Lawless acted with a sexual motivation or intention in regards to the kiss but rather it was an affectionate, “goodnight” gesture.

However, Mr Lawless, 58, of Athelstone, was found guilty of common assault in that he had kissed the patient without her consent.

He was sentenced to a good behaviour bond in April 2022.

The tribunal heard the patient gave evidence during the trial that Mr Lawless remarked at one stage that the strap of her gown was undone and asked if she wanted him to fasten it.

“She responded that she ‘didn’t want her goodies on show’,” the tribunal said.

“She said that he adjusted her gown, ‘feigned’ looking down her gown, and said ‘No, we don’t want that, but they are magnificent goodies’.”

The patient also told the court Mr Lawless assisted her in toileting with a bed pan and would invent alliterative rhymes.

She said one of the rhymes was “Peter patting his perfect patient’s perfect posterior” which he repeated every time he toileted her.

Mr Lawless denied making the inappropriate remarks, kissing the patient or inappropriately touching her breast and while he agreed he performed the massage he contended it was appropriate.

The tribunal said they found Mr Lawless made the inappropriate remarks – which were not subject to any criminal charge – concerning the patient’s “perfect posterior” and her “magnificent goodies”.

They also found there was no clinical justification for Mr Lawless giving the patient a massage, which he said he did to make her “relax and feel good”.

“Whilst the massage may have been performed appropriately, there was an obvious risk that the vulnerable patient would perceive it as sexual in nature and it should not have been performed at all,” the tribunal said.

The tribunal said while they did not consider Mr Lawless’ behaviour was predatory, it was “fundamentally inappropriate and unprofessional”.

“(Mr Lawless’) conduct was inexcusable … (He) did not act in the best interests of his patient,’” they said.

The tribunal also found Mr Lawless had failed to given written notice to the Nursing and Midwifery Board about his charges and guilty finding in relation to common assault as required to do so.

Mr Lawless will learn his penalty at a later date.