To be struck off...

It had to happen.  Four years after my very first regulatory case, one of my clients has been struck off.  The only other time this has happened was in that very first case.  It sucks. If it sucks for me, I can only imagine how devastated my client and their family must be feeling.

It was of course a difficult case.  My client had been convicted of serious offences of assault and child neglect for which they had received suspended sentences of imprisonment, which sentences have not expired yet.  However even in such a case, it was and is possible to remain on the register, with a sanction of suspension rather than strike off.

Why did my client get struck off then?  Was it me?  My client sent me a message afterwards appreciating that I had done my best and thanking me for my consideration and effort, so I guess they didn't think it was my fault.

Looking at the reasons for the decision, the panel made it quite clear why they felt my client didn't deserve the second chance of a suspension order.  It comes back to that old refrain, lack of insight.

There have been a couple of cases recently where lack of insight on the part of my clients has led to results (thankfully not strike off) that could have been avoided with full or even just adequate levels of insight.  I confess I have a dilemma here - there is no question but that I could, if I felt it proper, write every single client a reflective piece that would be an expression of total insight.  But I don't feel it is proper to do that.  Registrants must be able to reflect on their misconduct, accept where they have gone wrong and act to reassure their regulator that their understanding of what went wrong is good and that they won't do it again.  I can advise strongly as to what might happen if wrongdoing is not accepted, and advise as to how a reflection should look.  What I can't do is carry out a registrant's reflection for them.

It is entirely human to be defensive and to minimise one's wrongdoing.  Those are perfectly natural reactions.  But in this context, those reactions are unhelpful.  It seems counter-intuitive, but when you hold up your hands and say "yes, I have behaved terribly, I understand how my actions have affected others and I undertake not to behave that way in the future", you are more likely to get a positive result.  In this case, that positive result would have been a continued career as a nurse.

Don't compound your past mistakes by making the error this client appears to have made.  Know when to admit you were wrong and avoid the devastation caused by being struck off. It really sucks.

P.S.  All is not lost for this client, and we have a plan for when the suspended sentence of imprisonment expires...