Herald Sun 02 Dec 05
A NURSE who gave a woman the wrong injection during labour and killed a baby has been banned from hospital wards for life.
Thelma Virginia Natt, described in court last year as an incompetent bully by colleagues, was yesterday struck off the nurses' register.
Last year a coroner found her mistake killed baby Jaxson Heller at Nhill hospital in 2002.
The Nurses Board of Victoria found Ms Natt had engaged in unprofessional conduct of a serious nature and cancelled her registration.
Ms Natt did not attend the board disciplinary hearing.
A coroner last year found Jaxson died after Ms Natt injected his mother Kellie Hiscock with syntometrine instead of pethedine after picking up the wrong syringe while Ms Hiscock was in labour on August 18, 2002.
Ms Natt, 70, was employed at the country hospital despite not having worked for 35 years because it was desperately short-staffed and Ms Natt was a pensioner bored at home who needed the extra cash, Horsham Coroner's Court heard last year.
After handing down its decision yesterday, the board said a new campaign against incompetency would be aimed at ensuring Victorian nurses were not only qualified but capable of doing their jobs.
Nurses will have to assess and prove whether they are capable of performing tasks or procedures under draft guidelines to be released today .
They face being deregistered for non-compliance.
Nurses Board policy manager Kerry Bradley yesterday said the guidelines would educate nurses to make their own decisions to help prevent accidents.
"These guidelines would have assisted Thelma to make the decision as to whether she was capable of performing the task," Ms Bradley said.
The finalised guidelines, which will be binding for more than 70,000 Victorian registered nurses, will be released next year.
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