College of Nurses of Ontario v. Eulalee Lowe, 2011 ONCNO 99840

PANEL: Margaret Tuomi, Chairperson Jason Powell, RN, Member Anastazia Rybak, RN, Member Megan Sloan, RPN, Member Abdul Patel, Public Member

BETWEEN:

COLLEGE OF NURSES OF ONTARIO NICK COLEMAN for College of Nurses of Ontario

and -

EULALEE LOWE Registration Nos. 0108043-IH06209 ELIZABETH MCINTYRE for Eulalee Lowe

LUISA RITACCA Independent Legal Counsel

Heard: April 13, 2011

DECISION AND REASONS

This matter came on for hearing before a panel of the Discipline Committee on Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at the College of Nurses of Ontario (“the College”) at Toronto.

The Allegations

[There is a] Notice of Hearing dated March, 11th, 2011 regarding Eulalee Lowe (the “Member”) [].

Counsel for the College advised the panel that the College was requesting leave to withdraw allegations as follows:

the portion of the allegations in paragraph 1a related to Paragraph 4 of the Fitness to Practice Decision dated December 30th, 2008;
the portion of the allegations in paragraph 1b related to Paragraph 3(c)(i) of the penalty decision in the Discipline Committee’s Decision and Reasons dated March 12, 2008;
all of the allegations in paragraphs 2 and 3b;
the portion of the allegations in paragraph 3c related to Paragraph 4 of the Fitness to Practice Decision dated December 30th, 2008; and
the portion of the allegations in paragraph 3e related to Paragraph 4 of the Fitness to Practice Decision dated December 30th, 2008 and Paragraph 3(c)(i) of the penalty decision of the Discipline Committee contained in its Decisions and Reasons dated March 12, 2008.

The panel granted College Counsel’s request. The remaining allegations as set out in the Notice of Hearing are as follows.

You have committed an act of professional misconduct as provided by subsection 51(1)(c) of the Health Professions Procedural Code of the Nursing Act, 1991, S.O. 1991, c. 32, as amended, and defined in subsection 1(18) of Ontario Regulation 799/93, in that you contravened a term, condition or limitation on your certificate of registration, and in particular, you:

a) contravened the terms, conditions, and limitations imposed on your certificate by the Executive Director pursuant to paragraphs 3 of the Fitness to Practise Committee Decision dated December 30, 2008;

b) contravened the terms, conditions, and limitations imposed on your certificate by the Executive Director, pursuant to paragraph 3.(c)(ii), and 3.(c)(iii) of the penalty decision in the Discipline Committee’s Decision and Reasons dated March 12, 2008.

[Withdrawn]
You have committed an act of professional misconduct as provided by subsection 51(1)(c) of the Health Professions Procedural Code of the Nursing Act, 1991, S.O. 1991, c. 32, as amended, and defined in subsection 1(37) of Ontario Regulation 799/93, in that you engaged in conduct or performed acts, relevant to the practice of nursing that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional, in that:

a) during the period April 21, 2009 - May 1, 2009, you failed to disclose to the [Facility] the Fitness to Practise Decision dated December 30, 2008 and/or or the Discipline Committee Decision and Reasons dated March 12, 2008, and/or information about those hearings; and/or information about the terms, conditions and limitations imposed on your certificate of registration;

b) [Withdrawn];

c) during the period April 21, 2009 - May 1, 2009 you failed to comply with paragraph 3(c)(ii) of the penalty decision of the Discipline Committee contained in its Decisions and Reasons dated March 12, 2008;

d) on or about May 1, 2009, you accepted employment as a registered nurse for a nursing position you could not fulfil, given the terms, conditions and limitations on your certificate of registration;

e) during the period May 1, 2009 – June 8, 2009, you failed to comply with paragraph 3 of the Fitness to Practise Committee Decision dated December 30, 2008 and/or paragraph 3(c)(iii) of the penalty decision of the Discipline Committee contained in its Decisions and Reasons dated March 12, 2008.

Member’s Plea

The Member admitted the allegations set out in paragraphs numbered 1a,b, and 3a,c,d,e in the Notice of Hearing. As to paragraph 3, the Member admitted that her actions would reasonably be regarded by members as unprofessional. This was acceptable to College Counsel, who withdrew the allegation that the Member’s conduct would reasonably be regarded by members as disgraceful or dishonourable.

The panel received a