A Prince Albert nurse who was fined in 2016 for professional misconduct by the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association has had her appeal dismissed in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench.
Carolyn Strom was fined $26-thousand for criticizing her grandfather’s palliative care on Facebook.
The judge’s written decision says freedom of expression was a consideration, but it wasn’t the focus of the appeal.
The focus was whether the discipline SRNA committee made the kind of mistake that requires to the court to interfere with the committee’s decisions, and whether the decisions were reasonable or not.
The judge concluded the decisions fall within the leeway the law allows, so the decision stands and the appeal is dismissed.
The SRNA stated after Strom was originally found guilty in 2016 that they don’t want to muzzle their members from using social media , but registered nurses must conduct themselves professionally and with care.