The College of Nurses of Ontario alleged that the Member committed professional misconduct by failing to report an incident where she observed a colleague strike a psychiatric client and place him in a headlock.
The Member denied seeing the abuse, claiming she was focused on securing the client's ankles during the restraint.
Relying on video surveillance footage and witness testimony, the Discipline Committee found that the Member had ample opportunity to observe the abuse and did in fact see it.
The Committee rejected the defence expert's theory of unintentional blindness.
The Member was found to have breached the standards of practice and engaged in dishonourable and unprofessional conduct by failing to report the incident.