Penelope Williams is out of a job after enjoying a steamy night with one of her dialysis patients in his car. But their sexual rendezvous took a turn for the worst when the man started having chest pain. The nurse failed to call for help during the encounter and he later died of a heart attack in the backseat with his pants down.
Upon investigating the matter, the U.K. Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) booted Williams from the profession for failing to disclose her relationship, not calling for help, and ignoring the effect her relationship could have on the nursing profession and public safety.
The man has yet to be identified and is only being referred to as “Patient A.” He died from heart failure and chronic kidney disease triggered by a medical episode, according to the official autopsy report.
On the night of his death, Williams visited one of her colleagues from work at her home before meeting up with Patient A in a parking lot near the Spire hospital in Wrexham, north Wales.
During the tribunal hearing, her colleague told the panel that she got a call from Williams just before midnight. The other nurse said Williams was “crying and distressed and asking for help as she tried to explain that someone had died.” The colleague told Williams to call an ambulance.
When the police finally arrived, Williams originally told them that she went to meet Patient A in the parking lot because he messaged her on Facebook saying that he was unwell.
She later told the authorities that she was having a sexual relationship with the patient and that they had planned to meet up in the parking lot that evening.
Her later statement contradicted what she said during a meeting with the health board in February, during which she claimed she “met with Patient A and sat at the back of his car for about 30 – 45 minutes just talking” in the moments before his death.
At a May tribunal hearing, Williams admitted to having a sexual relationship with the patient and not calling for help even after her colleague told her to.
The fitness to practice council finally decided to remove Williams from the country’s roster of nurses with “immediate effect.” The members of the panel said the punishment was justified considering the harm Williams has done to the profession.
“Mrs Williams’s actions were significant departures from the standards expected of a registered nurse and are fundamentally incompatible with her remaining on the register,” the NMC stated.
“The panel was of the view that the findings in this particular case demonstrate that Mrs. Williams’s actions were so serious that to allow her to continue practicing would undermine public confidence in the profession and in the NMC as a regulatory body.”
