A “MORALLY reprehensible” nurse has been struck off for having sex with the husband of a dementia patient.
Anna Pather also accepted gifts, money or favours from the man, who was himself suffering from Parkinson’s and recovering from a triple heart bypass.
Pather, who worked at a care home in Edinburgh, was said by a witness at the disciplinary hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), to have “emptied” the man’s bank account.
Following the hearing in Edinburgh this week, the NMC found two charges against Pather proved and that her fitness to practise was impaired.
The charges cover the period 2006 to 2012 when Pather was found to be in a relationship with “Person A” while working at Strachan House care home. She also received money, gifts or favours from Person A, the hearing found.
NMC Panel chairman Martyn Griffiths said: “She abused her privileged position of trust when she enetered into the relationship with the husband of Patient A.
“Anna Pather’s morally reprehensible behaviour by its very nature makes it difficult for her to demonstrate that it had been remedied.”
According to the NMC, Ms Pather recently moved to South Africa and has not responded to the charges.
During the hearing, the son of the patient, whose identity was kept secret, revealed that Pather went on holiday with his father before his mother’s death in December 2007.
He said: “Shortly after my mother’s funeral, my father admitted that he and Ms Pather were in a relationship. They went on holiday together in early 2007”.
“She was abusing him physically and phychologically,” said the son, who added that his father “was not capable of managing his personal and financial affairs”.
The couple’s son-in-law then told the hearing that Ms Pather financially crippled the husband , whom he described as a very shrewd businessman.
He said: “He was not paying his tax because he was spending all his money on Ms Pather, including expensive holidays. In December 2011, he demanded £5,000 from me. She had emptied his account and left him in the red.”
The son-in-law explained that after the relationship with Ms Pather began, his father-in-law started to make large withdrawals including one for £27,000.
He alleged: “There was evidence of [Ms Pather] sending sums of money back to South Africa.”
The witness also told the hearing that his father-in-law, who in 2014 went into care himself, confirmed his relationship with Ms Pather was sexual.
“He made a comment about the sex being great,” said the son-in-law, and said that he was going to have “brown babies”.
The care home, in the Ravelston area of the city, lists dementia and Parkinson’s care among its key services.
A spokesman for the NMC confirmed that following the conclusion of the hearing today Pather had been struck off the nursing register.
In their written findings on the case, the NMC stated: “The panel has found that Miss Pather embarked on a calculated, persistent and predatory course of action for a period of some six years where she increasingly took advantage of Person A’s varying degrees of vulnerability.
“Throughout the six year period she caused significant financial and psychological harm to both Person A and his family which resulted in considerable personal financial gain for her.”
They added: “Miss Pather’s complete lack of cooperation with her professional regulator and her lack of engagement in these NMC proceedings has resulted in the panel having no information about whether Miss Pather has any insight into or understanding of how profoundly unacceptable her behaviour was…”
“Indeed, her persistent morally reprehensible behaviour and her failure to observe orders of the court and abide by clear legal boundaries, would suggest the contrary.”
