College fines nurse who failed to disclose 2009 criminal convictions

A nurse who failed to disclose her criminal record of possessing stolen credit cards called her behaviour “dishonest, selfish and self-gratifying.”

The nurse, currently working at the Health Sciences Centre, was fined $7,500 and ordered to pay $4,000 to the College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba for failing to tell her employer about an incident which occurred in 2009.

A disciplinary decision by the college — which regulates the profession in the province — dated Nov. 27, but made public last week, details the 2020 job application that didn’t mention the guilty plea.

In April 2009, the woman was arrested for possessing credit cards she’d stolen from her colleagues when she was working as a teacher. The woman was charged with 35 offences but she pleaded guilty to seven, the nursing college’s written decision says. The remainder of the charges were either stayed or withdrawn.

She was sentenced to three years probation and a conditional discharge if she met certain requirements. If she met the conditions, the conviction would be discharged and the entry would not show up on a criminal record check.

In February 2020 the woman applied as a graduate nurse with the college, then a registered nurse the following May. Under a question on the application form asking if she had been “charged, convicted or found guilty” of a crime, the woman answered “no.”

She did not disclose her criminal record during three subsequent nursing licence renewals. Her past conviction came to light only in April 2023 when the woman submitted a medical report to the college and on it was a note indicating she had been previously charged with a criminal offence.

The college’s policy says an applicant must make written disclosure of any charge, conviction or finding of guilt, including a conditional discharge.

The woman told the disciplinary panel she did not disclose the conviction because it was “so long ago and it was done with,” according to the college’s decision.

The nurse apologized for her “dishonest, selfish and self-gratifying” behaviour and said being charged with professional misconduct showed her that she still has “something to learn.”

Her disciplinary history at work, absence of any complaints on her record, as well as her guilty plea and apology factored into her punishment, the decision says.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca