Gordon Kent, The Edmonton JournalPublished: Friday, July 28, 2006

EDMONTON – A judge has upheld the decision to fire an Edmonton nursing

assistant for making sexual jokes to two men who were dying of cancer.

Lorna Wright flipped the penis of a 68-year-old man she was washing at the

Edmonton General Continuing Care Centre, saying, “How’s Mr. Business doing

today, I bet he’s been a busy boy,” according to evidence at an arbitration board

hearing. She also suggested: “I bet there’s lots of ladies’ names on him —

let’s see if the names are still there.”

The former trucker and concrete worker, referred to in the board’s report by the

pseudonym George Mullen, was “visibly shaken” when he reluctantly outlined

the August 2003 incident to staff a few days later.

Mullen, who died of pancreatic cancer the following month, told resident care

manager Scott Baerg that “in his entire life, which had been a bit on the rough

side, he had never before been treated in such a manner.”

Mullen said to Baerg, “It’s not like I’m an 18-year-old girl who’s been molested,

but this is the worst thing that has happened in my life.”

Around the same time, Wright went into the room of lung cancer patient Jim

Forester (also a pseudonym) to provide care, telling him, “OK, get naked,” and

saying, “I bet you’ve been with a lot of women — I thought it would be worn out.”

Although Forester sobbed for five minutes after revealing the incident, he also

said Wright’s comments made him mad. He further told Baerg that Wright used

to tease him about sex.

“I told her that she was a devil woman and that there was a song about her …

she didn’t like being called devil woman, and I told her to quit talking about sex.

Forester died in January 2004 at age 79.

Wright, whose 30-year health-care career included eight years at the General.

It is most troubling to consider all the other male residents whom this caregiver

was able to molest throughout the years.

Why was she not charged with assault?

August 1, 2006