Accused nurse had permission to give injection, court hears
A nurse accused of poisoning two elderly patients told gardaí she bleeped a doctor and got permission to give one of them an intra muscular injection of a drug called Serenase.
Ms Noreen Mulholland (aged 35), now living in Park Road, Portadown, Co Armagh, also said during interview that Mr Seamus Doherty (aged 80), Rathcoffey, Naas, County Kildare, had struck her on the arm with his own arm while she was trying to calm him down.
She has pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to Mr John Gethings (aged 77), of Baltinglass, Co Wicklow on March 1, 2003 and to Mr Doherty, between June 18-19, 2003.
Ms Mulholland, previously of Runabeg Close, Kildare, also denies intentionally or recklessly administering a substance, Serenase, to both men, knowing it was capable of interfering substantially with their bodily functions without their consent on the same dates.
Ms Orla Crowe BL, prosecuting, has told the jury that Mr Gethings died on March 2, 2003 but emphasised that it was not the State’s case that Ms Mulholland was responsible for his death.
Detective Garda Declan O’Brien, of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, said Ms Mulholland said she went to the assistance of Mr Doherty at 3.30am on June 19 after she heard him calling out "help, help".
She said she then asked a care attendant, Tony Browne, to help her adjust Mr Doherty’s bed covers, when the patient grabbed her wrists with his hands.
Det Gda O’Brien said the accused claimed Mr Browne had to peel Mr Doherty’s fingers off to release her and that the patient then struck her on the arm with his arm.
Ms said took Mr Doherty’s prescription chart and bleeped a doctor but she told gardaí that she couldn’t recall the doctor’s name.
She said he phoned back and after she told him the patient was unsettled and was physically abusive, he told her to give him an intra muscular injection of Serenase. She said she handed the phone to her colleague, Ms Sinead Noone-Norton, so the doctor could repeat the prescription to her.
Det Gda O’Brien said Ms Mullholand told gardaí that the doctor told her he would call up later to chart the prescription and that after she had drawn up the drug into a syringe and attached a blue needle, she brought it to Ms Noone-Norton who she said "verified the Serenase against the prescription".
She said she told Mr Doherty she was going to give him an injection and said Ms Noone-Norton was there when she started to give the injection but then walked away.
Ms Mulholland said she cleansed an area of the patient’s right buttock before she "slowly injected the medication using a blue tipped syringe". She said Mr Doherty called out and she apologised because the injection had come as a bit of a surprise to him.
Det Gda O’Brien said the accused claimed she asked Mr Browne to stay with Mr Doherty but after he was still agitated some time later she took over and sat with him for an hour or two to allow Mr Browne take a break.
Ms Mulholland told gardaí that the following morning she advised the ward sister, Ms Noelle McCormack of the night she had with Mr Doherty, and that she had called the doctor for permission and then had given him an injection.
Det Gda O’Brien said the accused said that when she was giving Mr Doherty a drink from his beaker, he knocked it and the lid came off, spilling water over her uniform.
She denied using a white needle to give the injection as both Ms Daphne Leopardi, a care assistant, and Ms Noone-Norton had claimed she had.
Ms Mulholland told gardaí she didn’t know why she hadn’t recorded in the nursing notes that she had been given permission from the doctor to give Mr Doherty an intra muscular injection of Serenase.
She accepted that she also hadn’t documented the fact that she bleeped the doctor three times that night and said she didn’t know why she hadn’t done that because she normally would do so.
The trial continues before Judge Frank O’Donnell and a jury of six women and six men.
