B.C. nurse suspended for promoting COVID-19 'pseudo-science' in personal messages to client

B.C.'s COVID-19 vaccine distribution began on Dec. 15, 2020. (Province of BC/Flickr)

A West Kelowna nurse has been suspended for four weeks after contacting a client while off duty to provide information against COVID-19 vaccination and in favour of "alternative pseudo-science modalities."

The terms of a consent agreement reached Thursday and summarized on the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives website indicate that Carole Garfield will have her nursing registration suspended for four weeks. 

She has also received a public reprimand and is prohibited from being the sole registered nurse on duty for a period of six months.

The college has ordered her to receive "remedial education in ethics, boundaries, documentation, privacy and confidentiality, and the professional nursing standards," as well.

According to the college, Garfield's misconduct took place in September 2021. She used her personal cellphone and email to contact "a vulnerable client" with her anti-vaccination messages.

Garfield is not the first registered nurse to be sanctioned by the college for "practice issues" related to COVID-19 vaccines.

Earlier this month, a Nanaimo nurse was suspended for asking a colleague to create fake proof of vaccination and for posting on social media claiming "the COVID-19 vaccine was unnecessary, unsafe, and possibly lethal." 

And in July, a Castlegar nurse was suspended for six months for successfully creating four fake B.C. Vaccine Cards in 2021.