Nurse vindicated after 2-year ‘witch hunt’ for ‘misgendering’ patient

A nurse who was suspended for ‘misgendering’ a patient, and speaking publicly about the case, has been exonerated of all allegations.

Nurse Jennifer Melle referred to a gender-confused man’s biological sex in a discussion with another medic about his clinical care at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust. When the patient overheard, he hurled threats and racial abuse at her, but she was subsequently investigated by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as a potential “risk to the public”.

When she spoke to the media about her ordeal, the NMC opened a separate case against her for breaching confidentiality. The patient’s identity was not revealed by her public comments.

Ideology

Now, over two years on from the initial incident, the NMC has finalised its investigation of Melle. The Council noted that it was an “isolated” event resulting from her “protected characteristic of religious belief rather than a desire to harass or bully Patient A”.

The investigation cleared her of “a deep-seated attitudinal problem” or undermining “professional standards”, concluding that “there is no realistic possibility that your fitness to practise would be found currently impaired”.

Andrea Williams, Chief Executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which supported Melle’s case, said it was “an indictment of the system that allowed this case to get this far.”

She emphasised: “A regulator exists to protect the public and uphold professional standards, not to enforce contested political doctrines on sex and gender.”

‘No case to answer’

Responding to her vindication, Melle said: “I am relieved and grateful that the NMC has finally recognised that there is no case for me to answer. But I should never have been put through this in the first place.”

“I was a nurse doing my job in a pressured clinical situation. The issue of biological sex was directly relevant to patient care. I was not seeking to humiliate or hurt anyone. I was trying to communicate accurately and safely with another medical professional. Instead of being protected after suffering racist abuse, I found myself treated as the problem.”

The nurse said it was “devastating” to be investigated as a “risk to the public for holding beliefs which are lawful, mainstream and central to my faith” and then accused of endangering patients, the “NMC has now accepted that no confidentiality breach took place”.

“Nurses should not have to choose between their conscience, the truth, and their profession.”

‘Lessons to be learnt’

Claire Coutinho, the Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, commented: “Jennifer has been put through two years of witch hunts by the institutions that were meant to protect her. This decision by the NMC is welcome, but it should never have been allowed to get to this point.

“Jennifer did nothing wrong. She was just doing her job when she was racially abused simply for stating the reality of biological sex.”

Coutinho concluded: “The NMC and all the other organisations that let her down need to learn serious lessons from the ordeal that Jennifer and other nurses like her have been put through.”