Nurse in Bergen seen sleeping at work, colleagues say

Medications.Photo: Gorm Kallestad / SCANPIX

A detained nurse is charged with doping patients at a nursing home in Bergen at Easter, and having been found sleeping at work.

 

Bergens Tidende newspaper is aware that the female nurse,who is in her 40s, was found sleeping at the department according to colleagues. They have written a report on this.

In a ruling from Bergen court, it appears that she gave the medicines to the four patients at Ladegården nursing home because they were uneasy. There was a stressed situation at the nursing home that night, was the woman’s explanation of what happened.

The Health Councillor, Rebekka Ljosland of the Kristelig Folkeparti (KrF) confirmed that there is a report.

“This is unknown to me,” says the woman’s defence lawyer, Gisle Didriksen.

The woman was said to have given the elderly people ‘Seroquel’ and ‘Quentapine’, which are antipsychotic medicines. When she was asked if she was afraid of what could happen to the patient, she answered that it was not a dangerous dose. She just wished the patients would calm down.

The nurse has explained that she consciously mis-medicated once earlier this year, but it is unclear at which nursing home this happened.

Medicines have the active substance, ‘kvetiapine’, which can be used in severe mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

“They are not approved for calming down patients without such illnesses,” said Steinar Madsen, Director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency.

The county doctor opened a check against the woman on Tuesday.

They have not heard supervisory cases that have revolved around her earlier.

 

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today