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Kelowna  

Kelowna nurse left Indigenous person 'pulseless and unresponsive' in ER vestibule

Kelowna nurse reprimanded

UPDATE Jan. 27

Interior Health has confirmed that the incident in question did not happen in one of its facilities.

The health authority could not offer any additional details.


ORIGINAL Jan. 26

A registered nurse in Kelowna has been reprimanded after leaving a person “pulseless and unresponsive” without care.

A consent agreement published by the BC College of Nurses and Midwives states the incident occurred in September 2021 while Katherine Lowe was working as an emergency room nurse

“Ms. Lowe found an Indigenous person apparently pulseless and unresponsive in the vestibule of the emergency department,” the notice says. “Ms. Lowe did not adequately assess or perform any resuscitative measures for them, concluding they were deceased.”

She also did not properly document the incident, said the regulator.

Lowe has since allowed her nurses registration to lapse, but should she seek to re-enter nursing she will have to serve a two month suspension.

She must also take “remedial education” in documentation, ethics, and Indigenous cultural safety.

No further details were released.



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