Filipino nurses are known all over the world for being compassionate and caring. But this isolated incident is surely a taint to that image.
A 32-year-old nurse working in Australia was charged for allegedly choking a patient suffering from brain injury.
Leopold Ramos, who was working at Caulfield Hospital in Victoria, Australia was caught by a hidden camera physically abusing his patient in his hospital bed.
Ramos was caring for patient Billy Aivaliotis, who suffered a severe brain injury as a result of a motor accident. The latter was placed in a specialised brain trauma unit, but his family became concerned when they saw bruises on the patient.
“It really raised alarm bells when he started to regress,” sister Effie Stagnitti said.
Placing a secret camera inside his room, what they captured was shocking.
“All I could hear was my brother screaming, and the nurse’s hands around his neck.”
It’s alleged The 33-year-old was choked and shoved, and had a napkin aggressively shoved into his face.
Video Report by 9 News Melbourne:
But in his defense, Ramos said he had good intentions as the video did not tell the whole story. Ramos’ lawyer claimed you could not see what part of the body had pressure on it and that what appeared to be choking was not an assault.
“The hands aren’t place around the throat. They’re at the top of the clavicle, in my opinion,” said lawyer Jacob Kantor. “It is a split second moment where essentially he is stabilising the complainant after he lashed out.”
The lawyer claimed Ramos was acting out of care as there was a safety a risk he would fall off the chair.
“A picture tells a thousand words notwithstanding the hyperbole to describe the incident. They are of very, very short duration,” Ramos’s lawyer said.
The magistrate said that he would consider upgrading the charge from unlawful assault to aggravated unlawful assault.
If found guilty, Ramos could face 6 months in jail. He’ll return to court in October. (With reports from 9news Melbourne)