Training and instruction
The court found that the plaintiff, as a nurse in a challenging ward, should have been trained not to participate in the physical restraint of a patient. The responsibility of restraint should have been left entirely to security officers; where a Code Black should have been called so that more security officers could be present. According to the defendant’s procedures, the role of the nurse should have been merely to “reassure the patient restrained and to administer medication to them.”
Assessment of violence risk
The hospital did not complete the mandated OVRATs (Occupational Violence Risk Assessment Tool), which would have provided a clear evaluation of the risk of violence in the ward.
Breach of duty, causation and court’s judgement
The court concluded that the defendant breached its duty of care to the plaintiff by not taking reasonably practicable precautions. Had the plaintiff not been involved in the physical restraint of M, it is probable she would not have been injured. In the end, the court made a judgment in favour of the plaintiff nurse, finding that the defendant was liable for the injuries sustained as a result of the negligence, and ordered the defendant to pay $1,634,418.55 in personal injury compensation.
Date: Sunday March 31, 2024