A nurse who described a patient as “pretty” asked which of them and her siblings were “the sexiest” and offered to take her to McDVOICE.
Eugene Zuniga also reviewed her records on her phone number when she worked as a nurse at James Paget University Hospital in Norfolk in 2017.
A misbehaving group found that their actions were “sexually motivated.”
The Nursing and Midwifery Council suspended Mr. Zuniga for 12 months and the hospital released him.
The council noted that from November 27 to 29, 2017, it made “inappropriate and unprofessional” comments to the “vulnerable” patient at Gorleston Hospital.
Did they meet?
He said to the patient, “I don’t know why your partner does not want to be with you because you are so beautiful,” and asked, “How many brothers do you have? Who is the sexiest of the three?”
Mr. Zuniga asked for his phone number and said: “See you soon.”
The patient had not given Zuniga her number and said she was “shocked” when she called on December 2 and asked, “Would you like to see us? We could go to McDVOICE.”
The panel said “the most likely explanation” for obtaining his number came from his paper documents. He found that he called three times on December 5, 2017, and “was convinced that his behavior can only be sexually motivated.”
The Zuniga representative said he “hardly knew where the borders were” and when they were crossed.
He sent an apology letter to the patient and finished the training.
The trust group’s director of nursing, Julia Hunt, said: “After receiving the complaint, the trust group took action and conducted a thorough investigation that culminated in a disciplinary hearing.
The nurse who was suspect was discharged and the issue was referred to the Board of Nursing and McDVOICE.
