Fairy floss and chocolate: Mental Health nurse found guilty of inappropriate dealings with former patient
It was just a platonic relationship with a former patient but a Lake Macquarie mental health nurse has been reprimanded for his secret and inappropriate dealings.
Newcastle
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A Lake Macquarie mental health nurse who had inappropriate dealings with a former patient has been allowed to continue practising.
Evidence in a report prepared for for the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal revealed Andrew Moses told the woman in text messages “I love you” and “I don’t want my birthday to be the day you died”, when she expressed suicidal thoughts.
The registered nurse had been caring for an in-patient while working at the Lakeside Clinic, Warner’s Bay Hospital between 2011 and 2015.
He resigned in March to take up a position as a mental health nurse for the Lake Macquarie Mental Health Service in May. The patient later presented there.
Despite no longer being employed at the Lakeside Clinic, with no involvement in her care, he continued to pursue a platonic and secret relationship with the woman.
The Health Care Complaints Commission prosecuted a complaint against Mr Moses in the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which last year found him guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct on two occasions.
Lengthy case details said he had failed to observe proper boundaries with the patient, who was considered highly vulnerable and had significant mental health issues including a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as numerous suicide attempts.
The report revealed that for several months, the pair had frequent personal phone calls with each other, and exchanged hundreds of text messages.
Mr Moses visited the patient while she was being treated at the clinic, bringing her fairy floss and chocolate.
When the patient’s treating team and psychiatrist were alerted to the relationship, Mr Moses was told to cease all contact with her.
But he persisted with the relationship, telling the woman, “don’t tell anyone we are still in contact, we aren’t doing anything wrong, don’t listen to anyone else…it’s fine to keep talking”.
On his birthday, she disclosed suicidal ideation to him to which he replied, “I don’t want you to go, but I respect your right to choose if that is what you want”.
He also said, “if you decide to do anything to yourself, delete all of our contact... before you do anything, I don’t want them found”.
“I want you to understand that if you went through with it, and our conversations were found, there would be consequences for me. Don’t do anything to yourself tonight because it’s my birthday and I don’t want my birthday to be the day you died.”
On one occasion he asked her to participate in a university assignment which included her experience about drugs and alcohol.
Evidence given by the woman said they had started messaging each other every day.
“Our conversations were mostly focused on me, but this developed into us talking about each other’s lives,” she told the tribunal.
“He would really just tell me general things about himself, like how he was going in his new house.
“He became a big part of my life. I knew he had a wife and two children.”
She stated that when Mr Moses came to visit her as an inpatient at the clinic, the nurses seemed upset and concerned.
“When I think about it, I am angry that he did make me so reliant on him. Looking back, I also now question what he was getting out of the relationship,” she said in her concluding statement.
In evidence given by Mr Moses, he noted the communication between himself and the patient should not have happened but the relationship was “well intentioned”.
He said he was naïve in maintaining a supportive relationship and felt that due to no longer being employed at the Lakeside Clinic, there was no conflict of interest.
He expressed embarrassment and regret for his conduct and said he had felt sympathy towards the woman and had focused on trying to “save” her.
“I understand now exactly why my actions failed the client in question and the service that employed me,” he said.
Mr Moses has had health conditions imposed on his nursing registration which included he attend a psychiatrist and be subject to mentoring for 12 months.