Nurse fined, disciplined after falsifying COVID vaccination records for herself, two others during pandemic

A Winnipeg nurse who falsified vaccination records for herself and two other people she knew has been fined and disciplined by the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba after pleading guilty to professional misconduct.

Charmaine Delaronde was a public health nurse with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and the lead public health nurse at the Ma Mawi Indigenous COVID-19 vaccination centre at the time. She was fined $7,000, ordered to pay $3,500 in costs to the college, reprimanded and ordered to take courses in medical ethics and professionalism within four months of Aug. 28, the day the decision was handed down.

The college said the nurse changed the records to make it appear the three of them had been vaccinated when they had not. The decision does not identify the two others.

Delaronde worked for the WRHA from December 2005 to January 2023 and was assigned to the vaccination centre from April 2021 to April 2022.

After confessing to the vaccination records change, Delaronde resigned in December 2022, effective the following month. The WRHA issued an 18-day unpaid suspension for the days prior to the end of her employment.

The college said Delaronde is currently practising as a nurse in Manitoba.

She could not be reached for comment.

“It’s always disappointing to hear about situations like this, and I understand why Manitobans are concerned when they read these headlines,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said. “But I want to be clear, these cases are rare and do not represent the thousands of nurses across the province who provide safe, professional and compassionate care every single day.”

Asagwara said regulators such as the nursing college are responsible for investigating complaints, looking at the evidence and ordering disciplinary action.

“The public should have confidence that the system works,” Asagwara said. “The very fact we’re hearing about this is proof that the regulatory process is functioning and that when issues are identified, they are acted upon so Manitobans get the safe, reliable care they deserve.”

Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, was unavailable for comment Friday.

In its 16-page decision, the college said Delaronde was in charge of overseeing the vaccination clinic and its staff and ensuring data was properly entered into the province’s database.

The college said while Delaronde also administered vaccinations for some patients at the clinic, she wasn’t obligated to get the COVID-19 shot.

It was only when the province’s COVID-19 quality assurance team did a routine audit of the province’s database, looking to see if employees had accessed their own personal health files, they found Delaronde had accessed her own file and there was a blank form that she had entered, which was supposed to include the vaccine administered, lot number, manufacturer, dose and immunizer’s signature.

When she was interviewed by her employer about it on Oct. 4, 2022, she confessed that she had gone into her files, as well as two other people who were known to her, to enter the vaccination information.

But, two months later, Delaronde called her employer to confess that she had previously lied, and that none of the three had been vaccinated. As well, she admitted she had “deliberately altered the documentation to state that all three of them had been vaccinated when they had not been.”

During an inquiry committee hearing earlier this year, the committee’s lawyers argued the three aggravating factors against Delaronde were “dishonesty, putting public safety at risk and the abuse of authority involved in accessing and revising the vaccination records.”

The committee also heard that in her favour, Delaronde had confessed to what she did, she was a proficient RN, she worked with an under-served population, had already received an 18-day suspension and had co-operated with the college.

Delaronde’s lawyer also said the pandemic “was a stressful time for (Delaronde) and their family and there were (unspecified) personal family and health issues which would explain their poor judgment.” Delaronde also had no previous complaints against her.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca