Five nurses from the Denver Health Medical Center in Colorado, USA, were suspended for three weeks after ogling at a male patient’s genitals.
According to Denver7 news as relayed by the Huffington Post, the incidents occurred between March 31 and April 3, when the nurses admired and made malicious comments while the man was incapacitated at the hospital and again after he died.
One nurse even opened a body bag to view the deceased’s sex organs and made sexual comments, which was heard by another nurse.
Following the scandal, the Denver Health Medical Center released a statement to the news outlet:
“Their actions, which violated our policies and our Code of Conduct, were promptly reported to appropriate governmental authorities, including the Denver Police Department and the Colorado State Board of Nursing,” the hospital said.
“An internal Denver Health investigation resulted in disciplinary action against all those responsible for the incident and the patient’s next of kin was notified,” it added.
Investigators, meanwhile, deemed that there was insufficient evidence to prove that a crime was committed and no charges were filed by the patient’s immediate family.
The case was also reverted back to Denver Health to handle internally, the report said.
“Denver Health is truly sorry this happened. This incident is not an appropriate representation of the high-quality care and compassion our clinical staff strive to provide to our patients,” the hospital said. Khristian Ibarrola /ra