Nurse awarded $1.6 million after being injured while restraining patient
The hospital was liable because it should have instructed her to leave restraint to security staff, court says.
A nurse who overcame a traumatic upbringing to land her “dream job” has been awarded $1.6 million in damages after she was injured while helping restrain a disruptive patient with dementia.
In finding the Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service was liable for the nurse’s injuries, the Supreme Court of Queensland said it should have been left to security staff to restrain the patient.
In addition, the nurse, who now has persistent back pain, was “never instructed not to assist in the restraint of a patient”, nor trained in restraint, Justice Soraya Ryan noted in her finding.
The court heard the nurse had a difficult life growing up and left home for good at 16.
