Nurse: Mulholland 'should not have been working unsupervised'
A nurse has told a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury that a former colleague on trial for assaulting elderly patients should not have been working unsupervised due to lack of training and alleged "problems".
Ms Sharon Baxter agreed with defence counsel, Mr Giollaiosa O' Lideadha BL, in cross-examination, that if the accused had previously been dismissed from another hospital due to inexperience and lack of knowledge she should not have been working as a night duty nurse.
Ms Noreen Mulholland (aged 35), now living in Park Road, Portadown, Co Armagh and previously of Runabeg Close, Kildare, and has pleaded not guilty at to four charges in relation to two elderly patients at Naas General Hospital in 2003.
Ms Mulholland has denied assault causing harm to Mr John Gethings (aged 77), Baltinglass, Co Wicklow and to intentionally or recklessly administering a substance to him knowing it was capable of interfering substantially with his bodily functions and that she did so without his consent on March 1, 2003.
Ms Mulholland also denied assaulting Mr Seamus Doherty (aged 80) causing him harm and intentionally or recklessly administering a substance to him knowing it was capable of interfering substantially with his bodily functions and that she did so without his consent between the 18 and 19 of June, 2003.
Ms Orla Crowe BL, prosecuting, told the jury that Mr Gethings died on March 2, 2003 but emphasised that it was not the State’s case that Ms Mulholland was responsible for his death.
Ms Baxter told Mr O' Lideadha she did not know that Ms Mulholland had not completed her year-long contract with Blackrock Hospital because she was dismissed after a senior found her lacking in experience.
She said was not aware that Blackrock Hospital superiors said that they would not have been happy to allow Ms Mulholland to work night duty, that they were concerned about her attending patients without supervision, that she did not have a significant knowledge of pain-relief drugs and that she had poor attention to detail.
"She should not have been on duty if she had all those problems. She should have been on a mentor programme or a training programme," Ms Baxter replied.
Ms Baxter could not answer a suggestion from Mr O' Lideadha that if she had known about these criticisms on March 1, 2003, her "take" on what happened that night would have been different.
"I can’t answer that question. All I can say is if those criticisms are true she should not have been working at all."
Ms Baxter accepted that her first statements given to the hospital and the following first garda statement did not include the allegation that the initials "IM" did not appear on Mr Gethings prescription chart, used to indicate an intra muscular injection, and she first mentioned it when gardaí showed her the patient’s chart and she noticed that "IM" was written in a different ink to the rest of the prescription.
She agreed she told gardaí that Ms Mulholland had said she would have to give Mr Gethings something to keep him quiet and that this was probably true rather than what she had said to the jury, that the accused has said she would have to give the elderly man something to shut him up.
Ms Baxter did not accept a suggestion that she was mistaken when she said Ms Mulholland had used a white needle to inject Mr Gethings and that she did not have the ideal viewing point to see the needle used if she had been attending to the patient.
The trial continues before Judge Frank O’Donnell and a jury of six women and six men.
