Carry on nursing: Health worker sacked for making cheeky joke as she straddled naked patient was unfairly dismissed
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 12:14 PM on 4th February 2011
Last updated at 12:14 PM on 4th February 2011
A nurse who cracked a saucy joke as she helped to restrain a patient having an epileptic fit was unfairly fired, the Appeal Court has ruled.
Laura Bowater, 34, quipped: 'It's been a few months since I have been in this position with a man underneath me' as she straddled his naked body while doctors tried to give him an injection.
The trousers of the 'extremely strong' 31-year-old patient had been removed so doctors could inject his buttock and Ms Bowater sat on his ankles to control his flailing legs.
Laura Bowater's quip was reminicent of the double entendres made famous in the Carry On films, such as Carry On Doctor, which starred Barbara Windsor, Jim Dale and Hattie Jacques (pictured)
But the patient span on to his back, exposing himself and kicking her forward so that she ended up astride him.
The senior staff nurse's remark would have been considered 'merely humorous' by many people and did not warrant losing her job, the judges found.
Ms Bowater was on her way home from a 12-hour shift in the accident and emergency department at London's Central Middlesex Hospital in July 2006 when she stopped to help staff.
Former nurse Nadine Dorries, now Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire, described the sacking as 'insane'
A complaint was made six weeks later even though no-one suggested the unconscious patient could have heard what Ms Bowater said.
She was fired from her £25,000-a-year post for gross misconduct over the quip despite four years' unblemished service.
A panel at Watford Employment Tribunal upheld her unfair dismissal claim but North West London Hospitals NHS Trust successfully challenged it at the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
Appeal Court judge Lord Justice Burnton has now overturned that decision but ruled that the nurse 'contributed' 25 per cent to her own dismissal.
The case will return to the original employment tribunal for Ms Bowater's unfair dismissal payment to be decided.
Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire Nadine Dorries, a former nurse, had slammed the sacking, saying: 'This is insane. Why has she lost her job?
'She made a joke as her way of having to deal with a stressful situation.
'She perhaps could have been given some kind of warning. There are ways of dealing with it and sacking her was not the correct way.
'It's difficult enough trying to recruit and retain nurses at the moment.'
Ms Bowater refused to comment on the case.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1353595/Nurse-Laura-Bowater-sacked-lewd-comments-unfairly-dismissed.html#ixzz1D1NPOvrT
Simply a beautiful woman doing what any beautiful woman would be doing in the same circumstances - more power to you Madam, and God Bless...
ReplyDeleteThis was a new experience on unlawfully sacked or dismissal. I think to make the patient normal and stress-less while injecting something high powered or risk containing, the doctor has to play innovative role. Anyway, I found many learning point from this article and I believe every employee has the right for Unfair Dismissal Claim. Thanks for sharing such an important issue.
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