Blackpool nurse guilty of drugging patients for 'easy life'

blackpool-nurse-guilty-of-drugging-patients-for-'easy-life'
Blackpool nurse guilty of drugging patients for 'easy life'

A nurse has been convicted of mistreating patients by administering them unprescribed sedatives in order to keep them docile and compliant. Preston Crown Court heard that Catherine Hudson, 54, gave the drugs to two patients at Blackpool Victoria Hospital between February 2017 and November 2018, hoping for an “easy life.” She also faced charges of conspiring with Charlotte Wilmot, 48, to drug a third patient but was found not guilty of mistreating two others. Hudson used various brands of drugs, including zopiclone, a treatment for insomnia that can be fatal when misused.

The case, in which prosecutors accused Hudson and Wilmot of regarding patients with “contempt,” came to light after a nursing student on a work placement at the hospital’s stroke unit reported what she saw to authorities in November 2018. When she raised questions about the use of zopiclone, Hudson told the student that the patient had a “do not resuscitate” agreement in place. Patients and their families were frequently the subjects of derogatory and cruel remarks made in texts by the pair, according to a Lancashire Police examination of their messages.

Hudson had also written of giving sedatives “within an inch of her life” to one patient who she believed was “flat for a week.” Inappropriately prescribing drugs leads to additional health complications and can be fatal for older stroke patients, according to Det Ch Insp Jill Johnston. Hudson and Wilmot, of Coriander Close and Bowland Crescent, Blackpool, are expected to be sentenced in December.

At the conclusion of the trial, specialist prosecutor Karen Tonge described the actions of Hudson and Wilmot as “callous and dangerous,” adding that they had shown “utter contempt for patients in their care.” Trish Armstrong-Child, chief executive of Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, apologised to Hudson’s victims and their families, stating that “inappropriate and unacceptable” conduct had been taking place at the time

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