A nurse has won his appeal to be re-registered as a practitioner, subject to restrictions, after he pushed a teenage girl suffering from anorexia.
Peter McPherson was a nurse on the mental health unit at Sydney’s Westmead Children’s Hospital in November 2019, when he was hit on the head by a 15-year-old girl following a conversation after the girl failed to finish her breakfast.
Mr McPherson pushed the teenage girl known as ‘Patient A’ with both hands, causing her to fall and then calling her an “arsehole” and told the girl “I knew you would carry on and make a big fuss” according to tribunal documents.
In December 2022, the Health Care Complaints Commission took legal proceedings to the Civil and Administrative Tribunal where Mr McPherson’s nursing registration was cancelled and he was unable to reapply for registration for another six months.
In early 2024, Mr McPherson applied to the tribunal to have his nursing registration ban overturned and it has agreed.
The tribunal’s decision released on Wednesday subjects Mr McPherson’s nursing registration to conditions including not practising as the sole or senior practitioner, and attending treatment by a psychologist.
He did not agree with the conditions but the tribunal deemed them “necessary for protection of the public”.
The tribunal was told of Mr McPherson’s criminal history, where he was charged with common assault in 2017 against his then wife but it considered the offence an “isolated incident”.
The tribunal noted Mr McPherson has since obtained a master’s degree and has been attending counselling sessions to learn how to control his stress and anger.
Source Agencies
