A nurse who stole a credit card from an elderly patient and used it to withdraw thousands of dollars has been fined but will be able to work again as a nurse in only two years. The Health Practitioners Tribunal found that Rochelle Mary Bain engaged in professional misconduct when she befriended the elderly patient and eventually stole $2000 from her. Bain met the patient when she was working as an enrolled nurse at an aged care facility in Pennington. From early 2016, Bain developed a relationship with the patient that the tribunal said exceeded the normal interactions between nurse and patient. Bain would run errands for the patient using the elderly woman’s bank card. This included buying birthday cards and presents for the patient’s family. On May 1, 2017, Bain took the patient’s bank card from her bag at the aged-care facility and used it to withdraw $1000 in cash from an ATM. The next day, Bain withdrew another $1000 and then returned the card to the patient’s bag. The elderly victim said she did not know when Bain had taken and returned the card and only became aware of the withdrawal when she received her bank statement. Bain resigned from her position and indicated to the tribunal that she would not be working as a nurse again. The tribunal fined Bain $2873.50 and suspended her from practising for two years.
