A reckless nurse who risked killing an elderly patient when she blocked his breathing tube has been struck off the nursing register.
Analisa Lontoc was supposed to attach a speaking valve to the 82-year-old's tracheostomy while he was receiving treatment at Sunderland Royal Hospital.
But the 37-year-old had not been trained to do the procedure and pushed a white plastic bung i
nto his breathing line instead – a potentially fatal error.
When she was disciplined by her manager, Lontoc shrugged her shoulders and giggled, a Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) conduct and competence committee had heard.
The mistake was only spotted after one hour and 45 minutes when another nurse, Paula Tetlow, noticed the pensioner was grey, clammy to the touch and verbally unresponsive, removed the bung and enabled him to be stabilised.
Lontoc, from Sunderland, had denied blocking the patient's oxygen tube and applying tracheostomy equipment when not having the skills to do so.
But the NMC panel found her guilty of both charges and ruled her fitness to practise was impaired.
Striking her off the nursing register, committee chairman Rachel O'Connell said: "The nurse was reckless in placing a bung over the end of Patient A's tracheostomy tube.
"Her action caused the patient respiratory distress and could have resulted in his death.
"Public confidence in the profession would be undermined if the registrant were not removed from the register."
The conduct hearing had earlier been told that the patient had previously suffered breathing and swallowing difficulties and it was difficult to say whether Lontoc's mistake, on November 20, 2006, contributed to his death two weeks later.
In her evidence to the hearing, ward manager Denise Bradford said the patient could have died if he had been left any longer than the one hour and 45 minutes until the bung was spotted and removed.
She added: "The worst case scenario could have been the patient's death.
"But when I asked nurse Lontoc what she would have done, she just sat there and shrugged her shoulders.
"After she left the office I heard her giggling. I said to her it was a serious matter and she just walked off."
