A male nurse who squeezed a student’s breast and touched her vagina while demonstrating how to conduct a head to toe patient assessment and then said she could “sit on his face” has had his registration suspended for two months. The man, who also fondled an unconscious female patient’s breasts while she was in the intensive care unit at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, was recently reprimanded by a tribunal for engaging in professional misconduct. The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia took Alfredo Crocetti to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal over the two incidents, which happened in 2012 and 2014. Mr Crocetti came to the attention of the professional authority after he inappropriately put his hand inside a student’s bra, removed the cup, touched and squeezed her bare breast while teaching an acute care class at Victoria University in 2014. During the “demonstration” of a head to toe assessment on a patient, the tribunal heard that Mr Crocetti put his hand down the woman’s outer leg garment before touching her inner thighs and vagina over her underpants. Mr Crocetti also removed his shirt so the student could touch his bare torso as part of the “assessment” and made sexually suggestive comments, including “you can sit on my face if you like”. Another student was present at the time. The matter was first raised with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency by the director of learning and teaching in the College of Health and Biomedicine at Victoria University. The subsequent investigation raised separate concerns about Mr Crocetti’s behaviour while he was working an overnight shift in the intensive care unit at Royal Melbourne Hospital in 2012. The tribunal heard that Mr Crocetti was standing next to the bed of an unconscious patient when he placed his hands on her bare breasts while the sheet was arranged near her waist. The touching was without clinical justification, the tribunal heard. In a joint ruling, the tribunal’s members found that Mr Corcetti’s conduct was a “fundamental breach” of the trust patients place in nurses charged with their care. “He did not actively preserve the dignity of his patient or recognise her vulnerability and powerlessness. The patient was unconscious,” they said. “It also caused distress to nurse colleagues who observed the conduct.” Mr Corcetti’s behaviour while teaching student nurses at Victoria University was described as “an abuse of his position of trust and authority”. “[It] represented a gross lack of respect for the students under his supervision and disregard for his important role as a student nurse educator,” the tribunal found. Mr Crocetti agreed to the statement of facts presented to the tribunal. He had initially sought to deny or justify the student allegation and argued that the incident which took place in the intensive care unit two years earlier had been dealt with by the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Once returning from his two-month suspension, Mr Crocetti will not be allowed to have face-to-face contact with patients for an extra four months. He is also banned from teaching for another 12 months. Before resuming contact with patients, Mr Crocetti must also undertake four hours of education on the topic of “identifying and maintaining professional boundaries”. Mr Crocetti, a registered nurse since 1990, was working at a general practice in North Melbourne, where his contact with patients had been supervised while the mattter has been resolved.
July 10, 2018
The Independent Education Union of Australia and The Baptist Union of Queensland – Carinity are in a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) in front of the Fair Work Commissioner Booth in his Brisbane chambers at 2.30pm
July 10, 2018
BSN Medical (Aust) Pty Ltd is dealing with a s.372 (Application to deal with other contravention disputes) before Commissioner Simpson in his Brisbane chambers at 2pm (Lorrimar).
July 10, 2018
Townsville Aboriginal & Islander Health Service must face up to a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) lodged by an ex-staffer (Hussey).
July 10, 2018
Monash Health has a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) it will defend before Deputy President Hamilton in Court 3 and Conference Room B – Level 6 in Melbourne (Singh).
July 10, 2018
An application by Health Services Union-Victoria No. 1 Branch (s.512 – Application for a right of entry permit) is being sought from Fair Work Deputy President Gostencnik in Court 5 – Level 6 in Melbourne at 10am this morning.
July 10, 2018
An application for termination of the SteriHealth ACT Enterprise Agreement 2014 (s.225 – Application for termination of an enterprise agreement after its nominal expiry) will be reviewed by Senior Deputy President Hamberger in his Sydney chambers at 1.15pm.
July 10, 2018
A juror deliberating in the trial of a Newcastle doctor accused of sexually assaulting patients has alleged being bullied into making a decision, prompting a warning by the judge. Doctor Jeremy Michael Stafford Coleman, 64, has been charged with 66 sexual and indecent assault offences. The District Court heard the offences allegedly happened over 20 years up to 2013 at clinics in Newcastle and Kanwal on the New South Wales central coast. Dr Coleman’s trial has spanned 10 months and is the longest of its type in Newcastle’s history. In her closing address, defence barrister Pauline David late last month argued all of Dr Coleman’s examinations had been done for a proper medical purpose and not a sexual one. Crown prosecutor Paul Marr rejected that and said the doctor had had a sexual motive. As the jury began deliberating for a sixth day, judge Penelope Hock was alerted to what she called tensions in the jury room. Judge Hock told the jury she had received a note by a juror alleging they had been pressured to make a decision. Judge Hock said the note was of concern. “No juror has the right to seek to overcome the decisions of another juror or to bully a juror,” she said. “You all have a duty to listen carefully and be objective to the views of every one of your fellow jurors. “Calmly weigh up opinions about the evidence and test them by discussion.” Judge Hock advised the jurors they must treat each other politely at all times and must make a decision based only on the evidence. Judge Hock took several days to give directions to the jury before it started deliberating. She said many of the women had waited years to make complaints and only did so after police issued media releases. She said as a result, the jury would have to examine the crown’s case carefully. But she said delayed reporting of alleged abuse did not mean a person was untruthful. The judge also said the jury needed to consider each woman’s case individually, stressing it was up to the crown to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt. “Suspicion is not good enough,” Judge Hock said. The jury will have a rest day toady and resume deliberations on Wednesday.
