No findings against nurse accused of abusing vulnerable nursing home resident 

A fitness-to-practise inquiry has decided to make no findings in relation to allegations that a staff nurse physically, verbally and psychologically abused a vulnerable resident of a Laois nursing home including threatening to kill her.

The nurse, Xhilda Zana, had been accused of three allegations of professional misconduct over her interaction with the elderly woman on the morning of September 6, 2021 at Kilminchy Lodge nursing home in Portlaoise, Co Laois.

The inquiry by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland heard Ms Zana was accused of verbally assaulting the woman – identified only as Resident A – by shouting at her in an inappropriate manner and threatening to kill her.

It is also alleged that the nurse pressed the woman down onto her bed with force on her shoulder and hip during the same incident.

Counsel for the NMBI, Deirdre Lynch BL, said Ms Zana was also accused of psychologically abusing the resident, who suffered from a moderate to severe cognitive impairment and had been diagnosed with dementia, by ignoring her pleas to stop the assault and abuse.

The nurse was further accused of poor professional performance and breaches of the NMBI’s Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics in relation to the same single incident.

The first day of the inquiry, which was held in February, heard evidence from a health care assistant, Claire Hennessy who was the only eyewitness to the alleged incident.

She described hearing shouting and someone saying: “Stop it. You’re hurting me.” Ms Hennessy recalled seeing Ms Zana pressing the resident into the metal frame of the bed and saying: “If you don’t stop. I am going to kill you.” The witness said she was shocked by what happened but did not have the courage to say anything as she was “really scared” of the nurse.

Ms Zana did not attend the inquiry and was not legally represented.

At the resumed hearing on Tuesday, Stephanie Badinas, who was assistant director of nursing at Kilminchy Lodge at the time of the alleged incident, confirmed being told by Ms Hennessy about the incident.

Ms Badinas said she and the then director of nursing, Evelyn McCormack, immediately went to check on Resident A.

She recalled that the woman was very anxious and crying but she did not see any physical injuries on her.

Ms Badinas said Resident A also stated: “She’s going to kill me.” In reply to questions from Ms Lynch, the witness said it would not have been characteristic for Resident A to be agitated or anxious, although there would be times when she would cry such as when looking for her family.

Ms Badinas said she had never heard Resident A say anything before about someone going to kill her.

The inquiry heard Ms Hennessy had complained that working with the nurse was hard as Ms Zara was “a pain.” “Most of us didn’t get on with her. She was really bossy,” she told Ms Badinas.

However, the witness said she never had any “bad interactions” with Ms Zana and she was not aware previously of any issues between the nurse and other staff.

The inquiry heard a GP, who was called to examine Resident A following the alleged incident, found no evidence of any physical injuries that would raise concerns.

In evidence, Ms McCormack said she had no reason to disbelieve or doubt what Ms Hennessy was claiming about the nurse.

She recalled going to check on Resident A and finding her “extremely distressed and frightened."

Ms McCormack said she had only started working in the nursing home a week earlier but she had no direct or indirect knowledge to suggest Resident A was in the habit of making significant allegations or being distressed.

She also confirmed hearing Resident A stating: “She’s going to kill me” but accepted the woman had never identified exactly who had threatened her.

The inquiry heard Ms Zana had recorded in her nursing notes that the woman was OK but had been a bit disturbed during the previous night.

However, Ms McCormack said nothing had been documented by the nurse to indicate that “anything had happened.” When she first spoke to Ms Zana about the incident at 4pm later that day, Ms McCormack said the nurse stated that she had put all the relevant information into the nursing notes and she had nothing further to add.

The witness said the nurse sent her an e-mail the following day to hand in her resignation.

The inquiry heard Ms Zana repeated her assertion that she had already put everything in the nursing notes about the resident trying to get out of bed and there was “nothing special to tell.” Ms Mc Cormack said that when she asked the nurse on September 8, 2021 for a written statement about the alleged incident that Ms Zana replied that Ms Hennessy was “making it up” and writing “crazy things.” The nurse said she was shocked about the complaint and did not want to work with “colleagues like this.” Ms Zana told her superior that resignation was the best thing for her to do in order to “stay away from nasty colleagues.” She also remarked that she had never experienced such “absurdness” in her work and did not want to be bullied by other workers.

However, the nurse insisted that she had never hurt anybody.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the chairperson of the inquiry, Mary Leahy, said the fitness-to-practise sub-committee had decided to make no findings in the case.