I will cut you into little pieces said the nurse!

On 4 October 2011, The Daily Mail quoted the words of Kathleen Booth, manager of the Cumberland Medical Centre in London, as she described the verbal assault launched upon her by Margaret Amao, a practice nurse, at a Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing.

The confrontation began after Amao had refused to do a urine test for a pregnant patient. Kathleen said:

“Miss Amao's nose was almost touching mine when she shouted, ‘who do you think you are?’ As she said this she pointed her finger at me and continued shouting madly and was very aggressive.

She continued shouting as she said, ‘I WILL KILL YOU, see what I will do to you, I WILL CUT YOU UP INTO LITTLE PIECES AND BURY THE PIECES IN THE GROUND.’ As she made these statements she pointed to the floor where she was standing. Her face was still inches from mine. SHE THREATENED TO GOUGE MY EYES OUT and made chopping motions with her hands in front of my face.

She began pacing up and down AND THREATENED TO KILL ME. She said, ‘do not poke your fingers at me, I WILL PICK YOUR EYES OUT.’

I was very scared of her. I thought she was going to hurt me. She was really aggressive and was completely in my face. I was backed up against the wall and got a sharp pain in my back. I was told that the colour drained out of my face and when I mentioned that to the policeman he said it would have been fear…

I was having nightmares. I was seeing things. I am still seeing a counsellor. Over the last few years I have been unable to do my job properly... I seem to get stressed very quickly and I think it is because of the bad dreams, nightmares.”

The Mail added:

“It is alleged that Miss Amao then followed Miss Booth back into her office and after being told the police would be called she said: 'Call the police YOU RACIST BASTARD, I am not an illegal immigrant'.

When two shocked patients asked Miss Booth for complaint forms to complain about Miss Amao's behaviour, she allegedly accused her manager of conspiring with patients against her, saying: 'You see what I am going to do to you, YOU RACIST’.” 17 April 2012 update

Guess what happened?

Though the police were called ‘no further action was taken’ against Margaret Amao. As for the Nursing and Midwifery Council, in October 2011 it was still considering the case two years and three months after she ‘threatened to kill’ Margaret Booth.

Finally, in April 2012, she was struck off. My guess is that this only happened because the case had come to the attention of the media.