Pinoy Nurse in UK in Hot Water over Alleged ‘Love Bite’ Offer to Colleague
A Filipino nurse in the United Kingdom is in hot water after he allegedly asked a female colleague if he could leave a love bite on her chest, online reports said.
A report on South Wales Evening Post said 54-year-old Miguel Gabarda was struck off the professional register over his alleged offense.
The report said Gabarda first asked his colleague if the uniform burn on her neck was a love bite before offering to leave one on her chest.
The female nurse, who had only been working at the Merton Place Nursing Home in Conwy, South Wales, for eight months, said Gabarda’s actions toward her were “very inappropriate.” She also said he made her “feel uncomfortable.”
The report said authorities had also found out that Gabarda “carried out sexually motivated incidents” at Merton Place Nursing Home in 2012.
He was also accused of kissing a colleague while working at Bryn Marl Nursing Homes in Conwy.
A separate report on Wales Online said 11 sub-charges, two of which had already been proven, were slapped on Gabarda over incidents that happened at Merton.
These reportedly included making lewd comments to a patient’s relative, exposing a patient’s bottom in front of relatives, and touching a patient’s mouth after sneezing and failing to wash his hand.
Gabarda admitted that he made “an error of judgement” and allegedly undertook a “vast array of remedial training” to avoid repeating such incidents, another Wales Online report said.
His representative Oliver Manley said his client may have been misunderstood due to cultural and language barriers.
Manley argued that these incidents were isolated and found Gabarda’s 23 years in the care profession “without fault.”
Nursing and Midwifery Council Chair Lucinda Barnett ruled that Gabarda’s “failure to maintain clear sexual boundaries” impaired his fitness to practice and required him to be struck off, the SWEvening Post report said.