Roger ‘Eric’ Lam sacked from Gold Coast hospital after causing patients pain
A Gold Coast hospital security guard has been caught on camera asking to “smack” a patient and deliberately causing pain to three others.
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A GOLD Coast hospital security guard grabbed three patients around the jaw so hard they were left in pain and said he asked to slap another patient.
Roger Lam, who is more commonly known as Eric, was caught on tape asking: “Can I? Can I? Can I give the boy a couple of smacks?”.
He also said the patient “needs a couple of smacks across the chops, that’s what he needs”.
The former security guard claimed the comments were just “banter” and the Queensland Industrial Commission agreed they were “not made in a serious way”.
But the QIRC did find Lam had mistreated patients on three other occasions, by deliberately causing them pain.
Lam was sacked from his position at the Gold Coast University Hospital in 2019.
He last week lost his bid in the QIRC to get his job back.
The four incidents were only a few months apart in 2018 and Lam claimed he was acting within his training.
“Mr Lam did engage in the misconduct the subject of the first three allegations,” QIRC deputy president John Merrell said in his decision.
“Mr Lam’s dismissal was not harsh, unjust or unreasonable.”
In one incident Lam knew the patient he was holding down had a brain injury.
All the incidents were during a “code black”, which is called when patients become violent or agitated and medical staff are concerned for safety.
The first incident was on February 8, 2018 and the final incident, when the comments were made, was on April 7.
The first three incidents all involved Lam grabbing the patient involved around the jaw and pressuring too hard.
In one incident he pulled the patient’s head back, in another he maintained pressure under the jaw for a full minute while others held the patient down and in the third he tried to grab a patient by the neck despite being told to stop.
“The patient appeared distressed and in pain during both engagements, markedly so during the second engagement,” the QIRC documents said about the first incident, which involved Lam holding a man down twice.
Lam maintained in all incidents he was acting as he had been trained to but the QIRC disagreed.
Mr Merrell said about the first incident: “It appears to me that Mr Lam’s conduct, on the two occasions he held the head of the patient … was deliberate.”
In the third incident on March 21, 2018 Lam walked up, pulled the patient’s head back and said “just keep walking” because he thought the patient was going to spit.
The QIRC was told to stop a patient spitting they were usually restrained from in front rather than behind.
Mr Merrell found that Lam’s conduct was “deliberate” and “appeared to be for the purpose of inflicting pain on the patient to get him to comply”.
A month later on April 7, 2018, Lam was again called to a code black at about 11.20pm when a patient was being aggressive and refusing to leave.
The patient was calmed down by his sister.
Body worn camera of the incident caught Lam saying the patient “needs a couple of smacks across the chops,’ that’s what he needs”.
He also asked: “Can I? Can I? Can I give the boy a couple of smacks?”.
“ … it seems to me that Mr Lam’s comments were not made in a serious way, were not made in a way so that the patient or a member of the public could have heard his comments and was banter to make light of the situation,” Mr Merrell said.
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A Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service spokeswoman said they were pleased with the outcome.
“At Gold Coast Health, patient safety is our priority and we don’t tolerate breaches of the
Code of Conduct,” the spokeswoman said.
She said the hospital had comprehensive policies and training in place to manage violence.
Originally published as Roger ‘Eric’ Lam sacked from Gold Coast hospital after causing patients pain