A Mississippi nurse has made an initial appearance before a city judge on December 16, 2010 on three counts of sexual battery of an incapacitated person following his arrest two days previous.
Scott Winn McLean, 44, of McComb is accused of inappropriately touching a heavily sedated patient in Jackson. A fellow nurse at Central Mississippi Medical Center (CMMC) told police that she discovered McLean?s inappropriate behavior when she found him with his hands under a patient?s sheet on December 5. When questioned, she said McLean replied that he was comforting the patient.
Colendula Green, Jackson Police Department spokesman, said that McLean then left the room, but allegedly went back twice. "Sometime after that, she noticed him in the same position with the same patient, and it was reported to police," Green said.
The police interviewed McLean and his fellow nurse and determined that some misconduct took place three times while the defendant?s hands were underneath the patient?s covers.
Shocked by the news, Mississippi Nurses Association Executive Director Ricki Garrett spoke about a recent Gallup poll that shows nurses as the most trusted profession for the 10th time in 11 years. "When you consider the vast majority of nurses live up to that trust, all you can say is that this really is an unusual situation," Garrett said. "It's very unfortunate, but the vast majority of nurses are angels who really do care about their patients."
CMMC officials responded seriously. ?We are fully cooperating with the authorities and will take all necessary actions to protect our patients," said CMMC Director of Marketing and Communications Andrew Kruger.
Green said McLean has been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation. Garrett said that McLean will be under investigation by the State Board of Nursing as well as by the police.
"Anytime a nurse is in trouble, whether it's a criminal act or abuse of alcohol or drugs or whatever it may be, those nurses do have to go before the board and the alleged act is investigated and they determine what the appropriate steps should be," she said, adding that those steps can include suspension or loss of a nursing license. She also noted that situations like the alleged one involving McLean are few and far between.