Nurse suspended after 'smacking' unruly toddler

Sunday Telegraph ^ | 4th May 2008 | Andrew Chesterton and Sharon Labi

[naturalman1975]

AN experienced nurse has been suspended after allegedly smacking an unruly toddler in a hospital emergency department.

Jeanette Stewart is on full pay pending the outcome of a police and Department of Community Services investigation into the incident, involving a three-year- old girl, at the Wagga Wagga Base Hospital on April 15.

Did she do the right thing? Have your say in the comment field below and vote in our online poll.

The girl, who was in the emergency department with her mother and a sibling, is said to have been running around and misbehaving when Ms Stewart allegedly grabbed her, smacked her on the bottom and yelled at her to sit down.

It is understood Ms Stewart had feared the child would injure herself or interfere with patient care.

Under mandatory reporting rules, the hospital alerted DoCS, which referred the matter to its joint investigation-review team and police.

Wagga Wagga crime manager Detective Sergeant Dale Holmes said officers expected to interview Ms Stewart in coming days.

"The nature of the alleged assault is simply that the child has been chastised by one of the nursing staff at the hospital in emergency ... a physical assault by being pushed and picked up and being smacked, but that's under investigation,'' he told The Sunday Telegraph.

Asked if the child had been misbehaving, he said: "We believe so, and (the alleged smack) was a result. Whether that constitutes an assault in the circumstances is being investigated''.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Yep. I saw that....but chose NOT to go there & give the site any hits.

Bless my heart and all...

[Mila]

"Indeed. And forcing her to wear that red hat. Cruel."

Yes, she definitely looks as though she neglected to look in a mirror :)

But my comment as it pertains to this errant child is that maybe the mother was sick and distracted or perhaps she was distracted because her other child was sick. As one poster has pointed out, emergency room visits are usually protracted and kids can get very restless. The mom might have been frazzled because she was forced by circumstance to take her children with her to the hospital.

[Atomic Vomit]

Fantastically amazing. Very well written. I am so amazed at what I can learn by reading. Thanks for taking the time to inform us. Linda

SPAM

AV

[Atomic Vomit]

It's a spambot

AV

[Atomic Vomit]

It's a spambot

AV

[Eepsy]

You have got to be kidding me.

[Levante]

Thank you for that!

I appreciate your kindness — unlike the bastards that constantly post that horrific picture of Madeline Albright!! ;)

[ktscarlett66]

I have sympathy too, especially when we’re talking about an ER wait. It’s pretty difficult for even the best behaved toddler to sit for hours doing nothing. My older son and my stepdaughter, good toddlers. Could take them anywhere, they would sit in church or at a dinner, when you told them it was an occasion to sit and listen, they would (although they never got tested with an extremely long ER wait!). My younger son - he was like a little rocket. Into everything. Grocery shopping was really hard, even though I always made him sit in the cart, he was in constant danger of flipping out of it. He was like a little monkey. It was very difficult to take him anywhere. If we went out to eat infrequently, I spent the time between ordering and being served, out in the parking lot with him always.

It wasn’t lackadaisical parenting. The older two weren’t like that. He got spanked sometimes but it had no effect. You can’t punish a toddler by taking away things like you can an older child- he had no video games or cell phone or driving privileges. Trying to engage him in quiet activities was useless. Put him in an ER waiting area for hours would have been my worst nightmare. Putting him in a treatment room for a few hours with hundreds of things he shouldn’t touch would have been crazymaking too. I took my oldest last fall to the ER for suspected appendicitis and I’m glad my younger was old enough to stay at the neighbors because if it had been when they were young and we’d had to have been at the ER for 10 hours, I can just imagine what havoc he would have caused!

[dynachrome]

Thanks to George76 for da ping! (a good smack on the behind helped dynachrome's behavior when younger)

FREEP THIS POLL ***PING!*** FRmail me if you want to be added or removed from the Fearless Poll-Freeping Freepers Ping list. And be sure to ping me to any polls that need Freepin', if I miss them. (looks like a medium volume list) (gordongekko909, founder of the pinglist, stays on the list until his ghost signs up for the list)

[dynachrome]

#31 looks like someone signed up to spam FR.

[metmom]

This is equivalent to using the church directory for a mailing list for your private business, to drum up business for yourself.

I don’t think it’s looked upon very favorably by management, especially coming from a newb who puts it in her first post ever.

What’s the policy on advertising like including links to outside enterprises on FR?

[A knight without armor]

This is a true story, it was Grady Hospital. When my best friend was dying in ICU I was so upset and the waiting room had toddlers literally running around the chairs and playing and screaming in delight with each other. It was horrible. I'm still just speechless about it. Of course the adults should have stopped them. I think only under the most dire circumstances should one haul children to the ICU waiting area anyway. When I was a kid people under 16 were simply not allowed but it's more relaxed now I guess.

[ukie55]

Kids really don’t belong in hospitals unless they’re patients.

Hospitals should crack down on that kind of behavior, no second chances. Strike one and you’re out.