Nurse Gets Probation Following Baby’s Death, Three Other Nurses Disciplined

The state Board of Examiners for Nursing Wednesday placed an East Hartford nurse’s license on probation for two years in connection with the death of a 13-month-old girl she was caring for in Manchester in 2014. A 2016 investigative report found that Shirley A. Powell, a licensed practical nurse, had failed to provide rescue breathing and CPR when the girl’s tracheotomy tube became dislodged. Under a consent order approved by the board Wednesday, Powell is permanently barred from caring for a patient with an artificial airway in a home health care setting or in any setting without the presence of other licensed nurses. The order does allow her to continue caring for one adult with an artificial airway who she has been caring for since 2008. Her employer will have to regularly report to DPH on the quality of Powell’s care of that patient.

State Board Cites Nurses, Orders Probation For LPN Arrested Five Times

Five years ago, Presley Eze, a licensed practical nurse from West Hartford, was arrested outside Trader Joe’s when, police said, he was holding a long sword and appeared to be high on PCP. Though he’s been arrested four times since and was found wandering barefoot in the snow in 17-degree weather in 2013, the state Board of Examiners for Nursing concluded that Eze, 29, has maintained his sobriety and is now safe to “practice nursing with reasonable skill and safety.”

The board made that decision March 23 when it imposed a four-year probation on Eze’s nursing license with many conditions. He must have periodic drug and alcohol tests and visit support groups at least eight times a month. Records show the board members concluded that Eze has fully accepted responsibility for his misconduct. At the same meeting, the board also disciplined seven other nurses.