A nurse failed to recognise a patient was dead and left another patient sitting with her br*asts exposed, a hearing has heard.
Jean Ndubeze is accused of making numerous blunders while working as a nurse at Hackney's Homerton Hospital in east London.
She allegedly said that a pain relief drug was 'very addictive' and failed to notice or respond when ventilator and monitor alarms were activated, the Nursing and Midwifery Council panel was told.
Ndubeze, who worked at the hospital between March 2007 and July 2008, is also charged with making mistakes in clinical practice, including problems inserting catheters and repeated failures to carry out blood pressure checks before administering drugs.
Describing the incident involving the dead patient on May 18, 2007, Sister Verl Vine told the panel: ‘How much poorer can a nurse’s observational skills be?
‘I was very shocked she was unable to detect that this patient was in fact dead.’
Alex Mills, for the NMC, asked Ms Vine how Ndubeze reacted when she was told the patient was dead.
Ms Vine replied: "She, Ndubeze, said 'nobody tells me anything so how am I supposed to know this?'"
‘She unfortunately wasn’t very pleased with me. I had that glaring look off her which suggested she wasn’t very happy.’
Ms Verl said in ITU there were obvious signs to indicate a patient had died, including a sheet covering them from head to toe and the absence of a nurse.
Monitors were switched off, added Ms Verl, and the curtains often drawn.
Alex Mills, for the NMC, asked: ‘If a patient is in ITU and alive, would you ever cover their head?’
‘No,’ replied Ms Vine.
He continued: ‘If a patient was being treated in ITU and they were alive, would they ever have no monitors at all?’
‘No,’ she repeated.
Mr Mills said: ‘You also mention there was not a nurse in the cubicle. Is that unusual if a patient is alive and being treated?’
Ms Vine replied: ‘Yes. Very highly unusual because you don’t leave patients unattended at any point and especially not with curtains around them.’
She said she would not have expected Ndubeze, who had been taking clean linen into the cubicle, to do anything upon discovering the dead patient.
But she said nurses were expected to be aware of their environment.
In relation to the woman left sitting in a chair with her br*asts on show and the curtain open, Ms Vine said: ‘I would have fully expected her to know this was not an acceptable position for her patient to be in.
‘This was a mixed s*x ward. Relatives and others would have been able to see her.’
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