Nurse acquitted of sex assault, but still suspended

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This article was published 15/09/2017 (2955 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg nurse whose license to practice was suspended despite being acquitted of sexual assault is appealing the ruling.

Although the criminal courts acquitted Tousif Ahmed of sexual assault, a College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba committee found “it is more probable than not” he sexually assaulted the female patient. As a result, the regulatory body imposed restrictions on his practice and suspended his licence for 18 months.

“In a court of law, the onus is on the prosecution to prove the case beyond a shadow of a doubt, in our regulation, we are working with a balance of probability,” said Katherine Stansfield, the college’s executive director.

“Our role as a regulator is to protect the public… this is a very serious issue.”

The charges stem from an interaction in January 2014 when a woman, whose name is blacked out in all college documents, went to the Victoria General Hospital’s emergency department for care.

She had been physically assaulted days earlier. According to her testimony, her eye was bruised, she had scratches on her face, her nose was swollen and there was bruising along her arms, inner thighs and shins. She was out for brunch with friends two days after the assault when she felt sick and vomited, prompting the ER visit.

Ahmed examined her.

She testified that Ahmed came in and did what seemed to be a normal exam before asking her to take her bra off and lay on the table. At that point she alleged, “his hands went under my gown and he kind of cupped my breasts, but didn’t really like squeeze or grope them.”

He then checked her abdomen before he “unrolled” or “lifted” her underwear, she testified, and, according to the written decision, “continued pressing and took both hands and opened up the lips of her labia.”

He then asked if she needed anything, to which she responded ice water, she testified. When he came back, she alleged he mentioned the bruises on the backs of her legs and told her to lie down again. At this point, she said he lifted her gown, exposed her thong and told her “nothing on your cheeks” before leaving the room, she said in her testimony.

She told a friend later she felt “gross” and “very violated.” She filed a complaint with the college and with the Winnipeg police only after unsatisfying conversations with a nurse manager the following day.

“The allegations are strenuously denied,” Ahmed’s lawyer Mark Toews told the Free Press on Friday. “We look forward to the court of appeal.”

Ahmed’s appeal goes ahead on Sept. 25, where he will seek to overturn the college’s decision. Even though he was acquitted of the criminal charges, the college committee determined the woman’s evidence to be more credible than Ahmed’s.

“This is a he-said, she-said situation,” it makes clear.

The committee found the woman’s inconsistencies — including her use of Tylenol 3, whether the nurse was holding a clipboard and her descriptions of how he allegedly touched her breasts — to be “immaterial.”

However, they found Ahmed’s inconsistencies to be more severe. The committee wrote it “is satisfied that the Member intentionally misled the police respecting (the woman’s) psychosocial status” and that it was clear from Ahmed’s criminal trial that post-traumatic stress was “something considered after (the woman’s) complaint against him.”

Ahmed has not been allowed to be in a room alone with a female patient since the allegations were made. His employment was terminated by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority for failing to tell them about that restriction while the investigation was ongoing, but reinstated following a labour arbitration decision.

However, because the college suspended his licence he never did go back to work. A WRHA spokeswoman confirmed Friday he is no longer an employee.

Ahmed’s suspension took effect the date of the committee’s October 2016 decision, although the decision was only made public this week, almost a year later. Stansfield called the delay “an oversight” and said the college is doing an investigation to ensure its processes for publicizing these decisions are clear.

Ahmed has seven months left of his suspension and will face limitations if he chooses to re-register with the college. He will not be allowed to be alone with female patients and will have to inform all supervisors and employers of this and provide written confirmation of that to the college. He must also pay $5,000 in costs.

His lawyer is hoping to overturn the decision on appeal.

“The one thing that has sustained me is the knowledge that I did not commit the actions I have been accused of doing,” Ahmed testified to the college committee.

“I have been acquitted of any wrongdoing by the court in Manitoba. My conscience is clear.”

jane.gerster@freepress.mb.ca