Christine Anne Anderson pleads guilty to inappropriate conduct toward dementia patient, 74

A nurse working at a Roma aged care facility inappropriately gestured and told surrounding nurses “this is how you do it” as they cleaned a naked 74-year-old man with dementia.

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A nurse working at a Roma aged care facility inappropriately gestured and told surrounding nurses “this is how you do it” as they cleaned a naked 74-year-old man with dementia.

Roma Magistrates Court heard it often took four nurses to clean the elderly man, as he would become aggressive, hitting and kicking staff.

On two occasions, Christine Anne Anderson inappropriately gestured toward the man’s genitalia to try to prevent him from clenching his buttocks as the four nurses cleaned the man.

“There was one nurse behind the man and a nurse on either side of him,” police prosecutor Pepe Gangemi said.

“The defendant was in front of him and the man started to tense up and squeezed his buttocks.

“The defendant has gone near the man’s genitalia and told nurses ‘this is how you do it’ and gestured so the man would unclench himself.”

Sergeant Gangemi said the same event occurred a week later on October 30, 2020, and her actions were considered inappropriate.

“Perhaps it was a poor execution of her trying to achieve what she was supposed to do in her role,” he said.

Magistrate Peter Saggers clarified with Sergeant Gangemi that the 66-year-old woman pointed near the man’s genitalia so he would unclench his buttocks and release so they could clean him properly.

His Honour acknowledged that people were going to deal with these type of scenarios more, as people lived longer and faced illnesses such as dementia.

“You were performing a difficult job and in the case of the 74-year-old man, his dementia meant he became aggressive towards a number of workers and his behaviour was described as challenging,” he said.

Barrister David Jones said his client was close to retirement but had since left the aged care facility.

He said there was no physical contact involved and it was at the lower-end of the scale.

Anderson pleaded guilty to two counts of assault.

Magistrate Saggers noted Anderson had no criminal history and was no longer working as a nurse.

She was placed on a six-month good behaviour bond and no conviction was recorded.