Plaistow centre nurse struck off for threats to kill boss

Monday, April 30, 2012
4:00 PM

A nurse who threatened to chop a clinic manager “into little pieces” and bury her in the ground has been struck off.

Margaret Amao told her manager Kathleen Booth she would pour a patient’s urine sample over her and poke her eyes out.

Ms Booth said she has needed counselling since the argument on July 13, 2009, which happened after Amao refused to test a pregnant woman’s urine for infection.

Patients in the waiting room at the Cumberland Medical Centre in Plaistow complained after the incident, the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.

The tribunal found all the allegations against her proved and ordered she be struck off.

Ms Booth had told the panel she had felt “very distressed and frightened” when Amao started shouting at her.

She had visited the nurse to ask if she would check the woman’s urine because the doctor was busy and Amao had only seen two patients that morning.

Amao had allegedly refused because the woman, identified as Patient A, was pregnant and her urine would normally be tested at the pathology lab.

Ms Booth said: “She shouted at me ‘I can do what I want, I don’t care’, and started pacing up and down the corridor.

“She also said ‘It’s not my fault the patient’s pregnant’ and I became concerned she had breached patient confidentiality because the patients in the waiting area could hear.

“She responded, ‘F*** off’. I felt very anxious and intimidated by Miss Amao’s behaviour – I was so distressed I picked up the urine sample, which was in a hazard bag, and threw it to the floor.

“She looked at the hazard bag and said ‘Look at that, I will pour it all over you’.”

Ms Booth said she went outside to calm down, but Amao followed and continued to shout abuse.

“She continued shouting as she said ‘I will kill you. See what I will do to you. I will cut you up into little pieces and bury the pieces in the ground’.

“As she made these statements she pointed to the floor where she was standing. Her face was still inches from mine.

“She threatened to gouge my eyes out and made chopping motions with her hands in front of my face.

“She began pacing up and down and threatened to kill me. She said ‘Do not poke your fingers at me, I will pick your eyes out’.

“I was very scared of her. I thought she was going to hurt me. She was really aggressive and was completely in my face. I was backed up against the wall and got a sharp pain in my back.”

Ms Booth said the incident had a traumatic effect on her. “I was having nightmares. I was seeing things. I am still seeing a counsellor. I have been unable to do my job properly and concentrate.

“I seem to get stressed very quickly and I think it is because of the bad dreams, nightmares.”

Amao, who represented herself at the hearing in central London, denied the allegations but her fitness to practise was found to be impaired by reason of her misconduct and she was struck off.