DISMISSAL OF NURSE

Southland Times, Issue 20648, 21 November 1928, Page 5

DISMISSAL OF NURSE

CASE AGAIN BEFORE BOARD. A HEATED DISCUSSION. (Per United Press Association.) Auckland, November 20. The case of Nurse I. A. Blackie who was dismissed from the hospital staff by a special committee appointed by the Auckland Hospital Board for sending a letter to a prisoner at Mount Eden gaol who had been a patient and in which was an indiscreet reference to the lady superintendent, was again considered by the board to-day. After a somewhat heated discussion lasting an hour it was decided the nurse should appear before the board at a special meeting next Monday so that the board might hear what she had to say in defence. In a letter to the board the nurse said: I admit my letter was most indiscreet but 1 think that to have my character and my career destroyed and to be dismissed at a moment’s notice is too severe punishment for what I have done. Mr M. Laing, a member of the board, said that he did not think it was the board’s business to whom the girl wrote so long as she did her work. In his opinion she should only have been punished for being out late. The chairman, Mr W. Wallace, said that all the nurses were in the habit of coming in late. Discipline must be maintained. Miss Blackie said in her letter that the matron was “going soft.” A member: Perhaps she meant softhearted. (Laughter.) The chairman added that the nurses were actually getting in through the maids’ Quarters and climbing over their beds. If they allowed this it would be the end of discipline. Regarding the statement of Miss Blackie that she had been dismissed without her wages, these had not been collected by her and were waiting for her. The resolution to hear the nurse was then carried.