A geriatric nurse who attended a baby shower at a care home during the Covid lockdown has been suspended, telling a court the mistake “will haunt me for the rest of my life”.
The staff knows Aged care in Epping Gardens hosted a surprise baby shower in July 2020 for registered nurse Denis Baniqued and his wife, who also worked at the facility.
There were strict Covid restrictions in place at the time.
The father-to-be was unaware of the party before arriving and only stayed for five minutes, but the Victoria Civil and Administrative Tribunal found he failed to break up the party, remove unauthorized people from the establishment and report the baby shower to the managers to report.
The court was told Baniqued and several others who attended the baby shower tested positive for Covid in the following days.
It also coincided with one The deadly Covid outbreak killed 38 residentsHowever, a previous study couldn’t determine where it started.
Baniqued said he was filled with “pity and remorse” for not dissolving the party.
“I have never once forgotten this mistake, which will haunt me for the rest of my life,” he wrote to the court.
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“We could all speculate about how things would have turned out if only the right thing had been done.”
The court, led by Anna Dea, recognized Baniqued’s remorse but found that his conduct still amounted to professional misconduct and suspended him for one month.
He must also complete further training in incident reporting and response.
