Nurse Lisa Robson convicted of `abhorrent’ treatment of disabled patient
A registered nurse of more than 40 years experience told a court she was depressed when she force-fed a disabled patient tablets, slapped her hand and told colleagues “I want to bash her”.
Central Coast
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A registered nurse at a group home was depressed when she assaulted a disabled patient and told her to “shut up, you’re a bitch, you’re a f’wit” before telling colleagues “I want to bash her”, a court has heard.
Lisa Robson, of Umina Beach, pleaded guilty to two counts of common assault but applied to have the charges dealt with under mental health provisions.
Her solicitor Marc Riviere told Gosford Local Court on Thursday she had been seeing a psychologist on and off for five years, had been diagnosed with a recurrent depressive disorder and anxiety, following her 43 years as a nurse working with at times difficult patients, and that her son was going blind.
Mr Riviere told the court the grandmother, who turned 60 on the day of her court appearance, had known the victim for many years before the victim came to the group home and their relationship was strained from the outset.
An agreed set of police facts state the victim was a resident of a group home managed by Life Without Barriers.
“(The victim) is 63 years of age and suffers dementia, schizophrenia, dysphagia which means she has trouble swallowing food, intellectual disabilities and she is confined to a wheelchair and is very frail,” the facts state.
About 6pm on Sunday, January 31, 2021, one of Robson’s colleagues heard her in the kitchen yell at the victim “take your medication, just take it” with the victim “making a squealing noise as if in distress”.
After Robson walked away her colleague found three tablets on the ground and brought them to Robson who said “I thought she’d taken them the little bitch”.
On Sunday, February 14, two of Robson’s colleagues heard her yell at the victim to “stop the screaming”.
“At this point the accused was witnessed to slap the victim on her hand,” the facts state.
Robson’s colleagues were left “in disbelief”.
Later they heard Robson tell the victim to “shut up, you’re such a bitch, you’re a f’wit” before telling them “I want to bash her”.
Robson later told another nurse during the handover that the victim “wouldn’t take her tablets and it wasn’t until I pinched her nose that I got the tablets in”.
Three days later another colleague was arriving for her shift in the morning and inquired how the night had been and “how is the new client?”.
Robson said “she is such a pain in the arse and I can’t stand her. The other day she wouldn’t take medication and I pushed her head back and threw the tablets down her throat.”.
Her colleague said “what the f..k Lisa, you can’t do that” before walking off in disbelief.
On Sunday, February 21, two colleagues walked into the victim’s room where they saw Robson “forcefully push the spoon into the victim’s mouth” while screaming “take it, take it”.
“As the medication was coming out of the victim’s mouth the accused was observed to push it back into the mouth of the victim with her fingers,” the facts state.
Both in shock, the two colleagues grabbed tissues to wipe the victim’s mouth and “observed the faint sign of blood mixed with the victim’s saliva”.
The court heard references state Robson had worked as a nurse for years with an unblemished record and these actions were an “aberration”.
Magistrate Jennifer Price said the victim was extremely vulnerable and the offences were aggravated because Robson was in a position of authority.
Ms Price found it “so abhorrent” Robson would try to force tablets down the throat of a patient who had difficulty swallowing.
The court heard Robson was suspended without pay and would lose her job if convicted.
However Ms Price was “not satisfied” the matter should be dealt with under mental health provisions and was “concerned” about the idea of Robson going back to work with vulnerable patients.
Ms Price convicted Robson on both counts of assault and placed her on a conditional release order for 18 months
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