A Saskatoon hospital
clerk broke down in tears Monday as she quoted chapter and verse her encounters
with a nurse dismissed from his responsibilities last year over a long list of
accusations of sexually inappropriate conduct.
At a disciplinary trial that started Monday in Regina,
the clerk divulged that Gregory Pittman, a Royal University Hospital nurse terminated
in May, 2010 after allegations from more than half-a-dozen co-workers and
managers, became her living nightmare.
The harassed woman, whose name can?t be published since the Saskatchewan
Registered Nursing Association, this province?s nursing regulatory body,
prohibited it, said "He put his hand on my leg or he'd put his arm around
my shoulder."
"He would always ask me, 'when was the last time you had sex?' Or he'd
say 'I'm really good in bed' ... I have had to get a security system for my house.
I am living in fear," added the woman whose job is collecting workers?
pay. After being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, she is now
undergoing counseling.
Pittman was nowhere in sight during Monday's hearing, or was he represented
by a lawyer.
The woman filled in the five member panel, which is comprise mainly of
nurses, that the espoused Pittman once popped up to see her at a tanning salon
where she also worked.
"He was naked and he was (touching himself). He tried to grab me ... He
said he wanted me to touch it and feel. He said it to me over and over
again," she disclosed.
According to the female clerk, Pittman constantly stalked her around the
hospital, looking for ways to sit beside her in nursing areas, also during meal
breaks. Pittman normally slid his chair close
to hers so their legs would touch, she said. Furthermore he frequently put his
hand(s) on her shoulder and once strong-armed her into a hug in a hospital hallway
before she shoved him away, she stated. "I had to lock myself in the
bathroom to get away from him," she related.
Similar to the female clerk?s situation, a nursing student also bemoaned
while recounting how Pittman once touched her.
"He reached around, touched my vagina and my inner thigh ... If I
hadn't been in a professional role, I would have hit him," she attested.
The clerk also testified she witnessed Pittman touch an elderly patient's
breasts as he assisted her out of bed, and mentioned they were subsequently in
a bathroom for "at least an hour" together.
A practical nurse, who is another witness, related to the panel that she yelled at him after he touched her breasts as she tried
to reach the microwave in a lunchroom.
"I told him to to back the f*** up ... After that, he steered clear of
me," she testified.
A petition from Pittman's lawyer on Friday that this week's hearing to be postponed
had been declined, according to Roger lepage ? acting as a hearing prosecutor
for the association.
The trial was expected to conclude yesterday. The
panel was anticipated to decide on Pittman's future as a nurse in Saskatchewan, which
could consist of a fine, reprimand or his banishment from the association.
Pittman, of Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, claimed he already retired from nursing
and no longer have a license ? during his earlier interview.
He never admitted to engaging in anything unprofessional or inappropriate, however
said he could not afford to be represented by a lawyer to defend himself at the
trial.