Nurse who falsely recorded patients’ blood-sugar levels said ‘they were old, so it did not really matter anyway’

10th February 2022

A nurse who falsely recorded the blood-sugar readings of diabetic patients said “they were old, so it did not really matter anyway” when the allegations were put to him.

Leonardo Ayubo Bolo was working at the Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Tallaght, Dublin, when he failed to take a number of patients’ blood-glucose readings and then falsely recorded them.

Mr Bolo has been found guilty of professional misconduct and poor professional performance by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) after a four-day hearing.

He was ruled to have falsely recorded the blood-sugar levels of six patients in 2016.

Mr Bolo faced a number of allegations including that on one or more occasions between March and April 2016, he put the wellbeing of an insulin-dependent man – referred to as Patient B – at risk when he failed to take his blood-sugar readings and then falsely recorded them.

He was also accused of adjusting the amount of insulin that he administered to Patient B.

Patient B was on an insulin sliding scale and needed to be prescribed insulin in variable doses depending on his blood-sugar level at that time.

On or around March 2, 2016, at 4am, he adjusted Patient B’s insulin level after he had not taken a blood-sugar reading.

These allegations were found to be proven as fact beyond a reasonable doubt.

The hearing heard how on or around October 19, 2016, when the allegations were set out by Patricia Morrison, assistant director of nursing, he responded to say that the patients were “old, so it did not really matter anyway”, or words to that effect.

This allegation was also proved as a matter of fact.

In reaching its decision, the committee said: “It is important for nurses to respect each person as a unique individual, to respect and defend the dignity of every stage of human life and to respect all people without discrimination based on age.

“It is also important for nurses to show a high standard of professional behaviour and to conduct themselves in a manner that is competent, safe, kind and compassionate.

“By adopting and expressing a policy of treating patients differently by reason of the fact that they are old displaces all of these principles.”

Mr Bolo was found to not have acted in the best interests of his patients and was guilty of non-compliance with the code of professional conduct.

He was found not guilty of professional misconduct on one of the allegations after he recorded that Patient G’s blood-glucose reading was taken at 6.40am when he ought to have known that it was taken at 7.27am.

The committee said it accepted the assistant director’s evidence that this discrepancy may have been caused by a “slip”.