A panel of the Discipline Committee (the “Panel") of the British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives (“BCCNM" or the “College") conducted a hearing to determine, pursuant to section 39 of the Health Professions Act, RSBC 1996, c. 183 (the “Act" or “HPA"), whether Allen Pangburn, a registered nurse, failed to comply with the Act, a regulation, or a bylaw, whether he failed to comply with a standard imposed under the HPA, and whether he committed unprofessional conduct or professional misconduct or whether he practised incompetently.
The Panel found that Mr. Pangburn committed unprofessional conduct when he did not attend to a resident experiencing acute shortness of breath in a timely manner and when he did not protect the dignity and privacy of a resident by ensuring that a privacy curtain was drawn when he assessed a wound on the resident's sacral area.
The Panel found that Mr. Pangburn committed made two medication errors, giving diazepam instead of lorazepam to a resident at end of life and that when Mr. Pangburn was advised of the medication error by a colleague, he proceeded to fabricate a telephone order from the most responsible physician to conceal the fact he made the two medication errors. The Panel found that Mr. Pangburn committed professional misconduct when he fabricated a medication order to conceal an error that was disgraceful, dishonourable, and unbecoming of a member of the Nursing profession.
The full decision of the Panel can be found here.
The Panel will deliberate on the appropriate penalty and costs and that decision will be made public when final.
Inquiry should be directed to media@bccnm.ca.