Nurse Struck Off After Betting When Patient Would Die

A hospice nurse has been struck off after betting colleagues that a patient would die on Christmas Day.

60-year-old Naomi Butcher, who may actually be Pat Butcher’s sister, also refused a Traveler family’s request to view their deceased loved one, saying they were “gypsies” who would “stay for hours” and “burn their bodies in caravans”.

Butcher also gave a patient 10x the correct dose of sedative Midazolam  – a type of benzodiazepine used for sedation and anxiety relief – falsified the records to hide it, and made multiple other serious medication errors that put lives at risk.

Referring to a patient in hospice care, Butcher told colleagues words to the effect of: ‘I make a bet with all of you that he will die on Christmas Day.’

All this misconduct took place while she was working at St Peter and St James Hospice, in Lewes, East Sussex, which promises ‘compassionate care’ for people with life-limiting illness.

As such, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Fitness to Practice Committee has struck Butcher off the nursing register after ruling that she was unfit to practice.

The panel’s judgement said: ‘The panel found Mrs Butcher’s actions to be an extremely serious breach of fundamental standards of professional conduct and behaviour that a registered nurse is expected to maintain and that they would be seen as deplorable by other members of the profession.’

Butcher admitted all the allegations against her except the comments about the traveler community ‘burning bodies in caravans’.

However the allegation was found proven after Butcher did not turn up to the hearing to dispute the evidence of a colleague who was present when she made the comment.

Very poor form indeed. Those drug dosing errors especially! That could have led to repercussions a lot more serious than being struck off the nursing register. Betting on death? Denying dignity? Dangerous dosing? I thought you were supposed to be the caring type if you got into nursing. Not in this case, I guess.

For the doctor who left a patient mid-operation to go have sex with a nurse, click HERE.