Nurse denies jab cover-up

A nurse accused of giving a pregnant patient a contraceptive jab at a Ludlow surgery has denied "covering her tracks" after the blunder.

Karyn Probert, 42, failed to spot the woman was pregnant when she gave her the injection at Station Road Surgery, a hearing was told.

The foetus was aborted live at 22 weeks old. The baby was born with a heartbeat but died of extreme prematurity.

Probert denies misconduct charges by the Nursing and Midwifery Council over her alleged failure to establish if the woman was pregnant, and altering the records of the consultation.

The nurse admitted she added to the records after the mistake emerged, but claims what she wrote was an honest record of the questions she asked at the time.

Guidelines

Probert, from Eardisland, Herefordshire, is responsible for county-wide guidelines on the procedure for nurses who are about to prescribe the contraceptive jab.

She told the NMC panel in London on Friday the woman attended the Ludlow surgery on May 12, 2005.

Probert said she checked the woman's weight, height, BMI, smoking habits, blood pressure, medication, and menstrual and sexual history. She denied failing to properly question the woman about her menstrual patterns.

The woman was one month pregnant when Probert gave her the injection, which is normally effective for up to 16 weeks, the panel heard.

On August 4 2005 the patient was fitted by one of the GPs with a coil device.

She thought she was pregnant, and that was confirmed a month later, the panel heard. She requested a termination and doctors performed the abortion in late September.

After hearing about the pregnancy on September 6 2005, Probert altered her notes relating to the May 12 appointment on the practice records, the panel heard.

At a later disciplinary meeting, Probert admitted she had "panicked" after realising her notes did not include the information.

GP Dr Karon Morton, who worked at the practice, had earlier said that getting the patient's menstrual history and date of last period was the "single most important thing to do". The hearing was adjourned until Friday when the panel is expected to make its decision on the case.

By Catherine Roche