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News & Reports
rvn disciplinary committee
Veterinary nurse suspended for dishonestly creating prescriptions THE RCVS Registered Veterinary Nurses (RVN) Disciplinary Committee has directed that a Kent-based veterinary nurse should be suspended from the Register of Veterinary Nurses for nine months after she admitted dishonestly creating four prescriptions, one of which was then fraudulently presented to a pharmacy. The RCVS reports that Kellie Price accepted the allegation of serious professional misconduct against her and did not attend, or have representation at, a disciplinary hearing on May 19. The RVN Disciplinary Committee was told that, in January 2013, Miss Price had dishonestly created a prescription for two inhalers; the prescription had been written and signed in the name of a locum veterinary surgeon without the locum’s knowledge or consent. This false prescription was subsequently presented to a pharmacy for dispensing. The committee was also told that, in March 2013, Miss Price dishonestly created a further three prescriptions, two in the name of the same locum veterinary surgeon 542 | Veterinary Record | May 31, 2014
and one in the name of a veterinary surgeon colleague, Cormac Higgins, again without their knowledge or consent. All four prescriptions had been made out for Miss Price’s Jack Russell terrier. The RCVS reports that Mr Higgins discovered the false prescriptions and asked Miss Price for an explanation before suspending her from her position pending further investigation. Miss Price resigned before any in-house disciplinary hearing could take place. The allegations were then reported to the RCVS and to the police. The police gave Miss Price a formal caution in respect of the prescription made in January 2013. The College reports that, in considering the sanction against Miss Price, the RVN Disciplinary Committee took a number of aggravating and mitigating factors into account. It accepted Miss Price’s explanation that, regarding the prescription made in January 2013, she had suffered an asthma attack in the early hours of the morning and had created the false prescription at work in a panic
after realising her inhaler was empty and fearing a further asthma attack. The committee also took into account a witness statement from Mr Higgins, in which he described her as a ‘great nurse’ and ‘good with patients and clients’. However, the committee considered that Miss Price’s dishonesty and the fact that she made further false prescriptions in March 2013 to be aggravating factors in the case. Speaking on behalf of the RVN Disciplinary Committee, its chair, Noreen Burrows, said: ‘The committee is satisfied that the admitted dishonesty amounts to disgraceful conduct in a professional respect [and] is satisfied that the respondent’s conduct fell far short of the conduct to be expected of a registered veterinary nurse. ‘Taking into account all of the circumstances, the committee has concluded that the suspension of the respondent’s name from the Register for a period of nine months is the proportionate sanction in this case.’ doi: 10.1136/vr.g3525
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Veterinary nurse suspended for dishonestly creating prescriptions Veterinary Record 2014 174: 542
doi: 10.1136/vr.g3525 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/174/22/542.2
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To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
News & Reports
rvn disciplinary committee
Veterinary nurse suspended for dishonestly creating prescriptions THE RCVS Registered Veterinary Nurses (RVN) Disciplinary Committee has directed that a Kent-based veterinary nurse should be suspended from the Register of Veterinary Nurses for nine months after she admitted dishonestly creating four prescriptions, one of which was then fraudulently presented to a pharmacy. The RCVS reports that Kellie Price accepted the allegation of serious professional misconduct against her and did not attend, or have representation at, a disciplinary hearing on May 19. The RVN Disciplinary Committee was told that, in January 2013, Miss Price had dishonestly created a prescription for two inhalers; the prescription had been written and signed in the name of a locum veterinary surgeon without the locum’s knowledge or consent. This false prescription was subsequently presented to a pharmacy for dispensing. The committee was also told that, in March 2013, Miss Price dishonestly created a further three prescriptions, two in the name of the same locum veterinary surgeon 542 | Veterinary Record | May 31, 2014
and one in the name of a veterinary surgeon colleague, Cormac Higgins, again without their knowledge or consent. All four prescriptions had been made out for Miss Price’s Jack Russell terrier. The RCVS reports that Mr Higgins discovered the false prescriptions and asked Miss Price for an explanation before suspending her from her position pending further investigation. Miss Price resigned before any in-house disciplinary hearing could take place. The allegations were then reported to the RCVS and to the police. The police gave Miss Price a formal caution in respect of the prescription made in January 2013. The College reports that, in considering the sanction against Miss Price, the RVN Disciplinary Committee took a number of aggravating and mitigating factors into account. It accepted Miss Price’s explanation that, regarding the prescription made in January 2013, she had suffered an asthma attack in the early hours of the morning and had created the false prescription at work in a panic
after realising her inhaler was empty and fearing a further asthma attack. The committee also took into account a witness statement from Mr Higgins, in which he described her as a ‘great nurse’ and ‘good with patients and clients’. However, the committee considered that Miss Price’s dishonesty and the fact that she made further false prescriptions in March 2013 to be aggravating factors in the case. Speaking on behalf of the RVN Disciplinary Committee, its chair, Noreen Burrows, said: ‘The committee is satisfied that the admitted dishonesty amounts to disgraceful conduct in a professional respect [and] is satisfied that the respondent’s conduct fell far short of the conduct to be expected of a registered veterinary nurse. ‘Taking into account all of the circumstances, the committee has concluded that the suspension of the respondent’s name from the Register for a period of nine months is the proportionate sanction in this case.’ doi: 10.1136/vr.g3525
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on June 1, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Veterinary nurse suspended for dishonestly creating prescriptions Veterinary Record 2014 174: 542
doi: 10.1136/vr.g3525 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/174/22/542.2
These include:
Email alerting service
Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article. Sign up in the box at the top right corner of the online article.
Notes
To request permissions go to: http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions To order reprints go to: http://journals.bmj.com/cgi/reprintform To subscribe to BMJ go to: http://group.bmj.com/subscribe/
