[InAmerica] Hospital sacks nurse who offered to pray for sick patient

Sister Sarah Kuteh is suing a hospital for wrongful dismissal over the sharing of her Christian faith with patients.

A nurse has been laid off because she discussed Christianity and offered to pray with sick patients before operations.

With 15 years’ experience, Sister Sarah Kuteh was reportedly dismissed for breaching the hospital guidelines, despite the fact that her job involved asking people who are preparing for surgery about their religion, Daily Mail reports.

The mother-of-three is now suing the hospital for unfair dismissal, arguing that she had been offering succor to patients who she had believed were happy to discuss their beliefs.

She described her dismissal as  ‘disproportionate and punitive’. The new development comes after equality watchdog asked that the prosecution of Christians be curtailed.

Recalling how she was suspended and escorted from the Darent Valley hospital in Dartford, Kent, Mrs Kuteh said: "It was embarrassing for me – and painful after all I had done in my years as a nurse. I was told I couldn’t even speak to my colleagues. All I had done was to nurse from my heart. How could it be harmful to tell someone about Jesus?"

However, the powers that be at the Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust see things differently and believe that the ‘unwanted discussions’ had upset patients and that Mrs Kuteh failed to adhere the warnings that she was being unprofessional.
 

Mrs Kuteh, a committed Christian who started nursing in London before moving to Dartford in 2007, admitted that she may have spoken to a few patients without their express permission when she first began the job but says she has been more careful since she received a warning in April this year.

Daily Mail reports that there had been complaints that her approach breached conduct guidelines about discussing personal beliefs.

Mrs Kuteh revealed that most of these conversations arose if a patient failed to put anything in the box marked Religion, forcing her to ask them why and then tell them how her faith had helped her

overcome adversities.

She was quick to add that the patients were often the ones who spoke bout their faith and beliefs first, emphasising that she had no intentions of imposing her faith on others.

However, Mrs Kuteh was shocked when she received three more complaints in June after which she was asked to stop assessing patients and suspended a few days later. She was later sacked in August after an investigation, and her appeal was rejected.

Mrs Kuteh learnt during the investigation that one patient had complained she had given her a Bible she had not wanted and had been told that she would pray for her.

Another allegedly claimed to have felt uncomfortable that Mrs Kuteh was ‘preaching’ at her.

Mrs Kuteh, is reportedly taking the trust to an employment tribunal with the backing of the Christian Legal Centre, claiming that her disciplinary process was flawed seeing as she had not been shown the complaints.