A hospice nurse “bet a patient would die on Christmas Day” and overdosed another patient, leaving them “close to death”.
Naomi Butcher, who was a team leader at St Peter and St James Hospice, north of Lewes, also refused a family’s request to visit their loved one who had died.
She told colleagues the family “would stay for hours because they are gypsies” and “they burn their bodies in caravans when they die”, a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) panel found.
The panel described Mrs Butcher’s conduct as “wholly unacceptable, degrading and unprofessional”.
It also found “a sustained pattern of misconduct over an extended period of time towards several patients” who were under her care, including medication errors.
The NMC received a referral from the hospice on April 4, 2024.
The hospice intended to discuss medication incidents with Mrs Butcher after she returned to work and sent her an email to that effect on March 19, 2024.
However, on March 25, Mrs Butcher handed in her notice and remained on sick leave.
The allegations against Mrs Butcher began in August 2023, when she failed to administer a patient’s 5pm dose of paracetamol, among other medication errors, which continued until March 2024.
On December 11, 2023, while discussing a patient, Mrs Butcher said “I make a bet with all of you that he will die on Christmas day”, or words to that effect.
On March 12, 2024, she administered 50mg of Midazolam to a patient over 24 hours, when they were only prescribed 5mg.
She went on to falsely record that she had only administered 5mg.
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The NMC said this error left the patient “close to death” and “more sleepy”.
The same day, Mrs Butcher “refused a family’s request to visit” their relative who had died.
She went on to say “they would stay for hours because they are gypsies”, “it was too late and/or there would be 20 of them” and “they burn their bodies in caravans when they die”.
Kelly Viner, a healthcare assistant, witnessed the incident and told the NMC she “had never come across a situation where a family was turned down from seeing their loved one”.
In response to the allegations, Mrs Butcher said she was “under stress”, the hospice was “short staffed” and she “had no experience in palliative care”.
She added that she “had not worked hands on for over 15 years and had been in social care”.
The panel said: “[We] considered Mrs Butcher’s conduct towards Patient X’s family to be wholly unacceptable, degrading and unprofessional.
“It was of the view that there was no reasonable justification for Mrs Butcher’s discriminatory conduct towards Patient X’s family and it noted that her conduct caused serious concern and shock to her colleagues.
“Mrs Butcher’s conduct would have caused emotional and psychological distress to Patient X’s family as they were prevented from visiting the sanctuary.”
The panel found Mrs Butcher’s actions amounted to misconduct and that her fitness to practice was impaired.
A striking-off order was made, meaning she is barred from working as a nurse for at least five years, as well as an 18-month interim suspension order to cover the appeal period.