British Nurse Whose Mistake Led to Abortion, Falsified Records, Gets Caution
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
July 31, 2008
London, England (LifeNews.com) — In the second case of its kind in just one month, a British nurse whose mistake led to a woman having an abortion will have a three-year caution on her record. Karyn Probert mistakenly gave a pregnant woman a contraceptive drug injection and then falsified medical records to cover up her mistake.
In May 2005, Probert, who was working at a medical center in Ludlow, had not realized that a patient was in the early stages of pregnancy when she gave her a contraceptive injection.
When the patient realized she was pregnant four months later, she requested an abortion because of the shot.
The Shropshire Star newspaper indicates the Nursing and Midwifery Council held a hearing in the case yesterday and learned that Probert panicked after she realized her mistake.
The injection took place in May 2005 but she amended the patients records on two occasions in September 2005 to make it appear as if she wrote them at the time.
And when doctors at the center did the abortion, the medical records of the patient in question made it appear she had a live birth.
“I realized I should have put the date, and why I added it," Probert told the council. “I realized it was wrong.”
The newspaper said Probert denied she purposefully tried to hide her mistake.
The council ultimately ruled that the patient wasn’t harmed as a result of the mistake and cover-up but indicated Probert engaged in actions that were dishonest and unprofessional.
Still, the panel said it was persuaded by Probert’s work during her career and would only place a three-year caution on her record.
“We have been impressed by the substantial number of written testimonials and the oral evidence that we have heard," council chairman Anne Kelly said. “This includes her dedication to the nursing profession and her contribution to teaching and nurse training.”
This incident follows just over a week after another British nurse who mistakenly gave the wrong woman the dangerous mifepristone abortion drug learned she can keep her license and stay on the medical register.
Ann Downer, 44, gave the wrong woman the drug because she mixed up two patients who shared the same first name.
Instead of giving the RU 486 abortion pill to the correct woman, she gave it to a woman who had only come into the Calthorpe Clinic for an initial consult.
Downer gave the woman a misoprostol pill, which is the second part of the chemical abortion procedure. The woman was forced to return to the center for a surgical abortion when she returned complaining of significant pain.
Downer could have been removed from the Nursing and Midwifery Council register as a result of her mistake.
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