Male nurses shouldn't be blocking doors as they treat intoxicated young women

The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld a state board's decision to strip a male nurse of his license for repeated inappropriate behavior with drunk women in the emergency room at what is now Tufts Medical Center.

The Board of Registration in Nursing said that while it is not inappropriate per se for a male nurse to be alone with a female patient, Paul Duggan had established a pattern of inappropriate actions with young women, including blocking doors to treatment rooms with carts and being found coming out of restrooms with patients so drunk they could not stand or in their treatment rooms with the lights turned down. The board said it was particularly troubled by one incident in which he was found in a room, its door blocked by a cart, standing between the legs of a drunk and apparently unconscious young woman with her hospital johnny pulled up past her waist.

Duggan sued to get his license back, arguing there were innocent explanations for the incidents and that the board came down especially hard on him because he refused to admit any guilt, but the court said, in essence, no dice, the board had credible witnesses and enough evidence to establish that Duggan did things he shouldn't have.

Complete ruling.