Tribunal suspends nurse over drug trafficking conviction

19 Sep 2016

A tribunal has suspended a nurse for five months and placed conditions on her registration after she pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and subsequently failed to notify the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA).

The South Australian Health Practitioners Tribunal (the tribunal) has reprimanded Tanya Louise Smith, suspended her registration and imposed conditions on her registration in relation to her conviction in 2014 for five counts of trafficking methamphetamine.

At the time Ms Smith failed to notify the NMBA of the drug charges or her guilty pleas, which she was required to do within seven days under the National Law . She eventually notified the NMBA of the charges on her application for registration renewal.

The tribunal found the behaviour constituted professional misconduct and ordered:

• Ms Smith be reprimanded
• the suspension of her registration for a period of five months, and
• conditions on her registration, including submitting to random hair drug testing as required.

The reasons for the tribunal’s decision are published on the AustLII website.