A Scots nurse who called a baby patient a ‘fat b******’ while branding a new mum a ‘scummy junkie’ has been rapped by a watchdog.
Karen Edith Cunningham was working in the neonatal intensive care unit at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee when she made the slew of horrendous remarks in 2018.
The nurse, who had 30 years experience, was also found to have made errors when administering medication to youngsters in her care on at least three occasions.
Cunningham, who admitted all the charges against her, also deliberately ignored monitor alarms for baby patients while leaving student staff members to deal with them.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council was told how Cunningham had become “disengaged'', “disinterested” and “didn’t care” about her job which led to her shocking behaviour.
She was fired by the hospital in August 2018 and has since been working in a supermarket while studying at college.
Cunningham admitted behaving in an unprofessional and inappropriate way towards patients in the clinical area and is said to be “ashamed” by her actions.
Between April and May, 2018, in respect of baby patients, Cunningham was found to have called one a ‘fat b******’, another a ‘fatso’ while dubbing a third a ‘retard’.
When dealing with another baby, she said: “Stick it on the fat girls a***’.
The shamed nurse also called a mum a ‘scummy junkie’ while commenting on the physical size of another parent.
Cunningham then said that ‘some people shouldn’t be allowed to have children’ in respect of a mother with a genetic condition which had been passed onto her baby.
She added that certain people ‘should be sterilised and not allowed to have babies’.
Her colleagues were also subjected to abuse and were called ‘useless’ and a ‘lazy git’.
After a fellow nursing staff member made a mistake, Cunningham asked ‘Wait are you Irish’ before stating ‘That explains it’.
The panel found that Cunningham’s fitness to practise was impaired as a result of her misconduct.
She has had conditions placed on her registration for the next 18 months which mean she must be supervised if she begins working as a nurse again.
She must also submit a reflective piece exploring unconscious bias and reflecting upon the role this may have played in the language and comments that she made.
The nurse must also meet regularly with her bosses while only working for one medical centre at a time.
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