Suspended B.C. nurse went back to work after sex-assault charges

VANCOUVER — A Maple Ridge nurse who misled an employer to get a job as a private nurse, only days after he was suspended for sexual assaults against hospital patients, will never be registered to work in the province again, the head of the College of Registered Nurses of B.C. said.

The case of Abihudi Imbai, who worked for Fraser Health between 2008 and 2012, is sensational and strange, not only because of sexual assaults against two sedated patients, but because Imbai got another nursing job so easily even though he had been fired by the hospital in Maple Ridge and suspended by the college.

It took seven months for the private health company employer to discover Imbai had been suspended and to fire him.

The college said Imbai violated an agreement to not say he was a licensed, registered nurse. It announced that Imbai’s licence has been cancelled because he “poses a risk of sexual abuse to vulnerable adults,” after being convicted on two criminal counts of sexually assaulting female patients.

The assaults took place on the same summer day in 2012. According to news reports of the trial, Imbai — who was known at Ridge Meadows Hospital as Nurse Abbi — kissed two female patients while they were partly sedated.

He contended that he was merely trying to comfort them and that it was a cultural misunderstanding.

But the judge said it was behaviour motivated by sexual gratification. Judge Garth Smith sentenced Imbai to six months of house arrest in his Maple Ridge home.

Imbai was suspended immediately after patient complaints surfaced and was fired a few weeks later. The college, which licenses and regulates nurses, also suspended him. But without missing a beat, Imbai got a job with an unidentified “private home healthcare provider” as manager of clinical practice, a senior position that required he have active registration with the college.

Imbai could not be reached for comment, but under an order he signed a few months ago, he admitted he knew he was ineligible to work as a nurse.

Although he could theoretically re-apply for licensing in three years, the college CEO and registrar, Cynthia Johansen, said in an interview that “he’ll never get registered again.”

According to his Linked In profile, Imbai got his nursing degree in Nairobi in 2002. He was registered to practise in B.C. in 2008, after meeting credentials and competency reviews.

He would have also undertaken a “cultural safety” and introduction to health care in Canada course before starting work here. He reportedly earned an annual income of between $88,000 and $92,000.

Johansen said it is highly unusual for prospective employers hiring nurses not to check the college’s website.

Daniel Fontaine, CEO of the B.C. Care Providers Association, said the lack of scrutiny of Imbai by the private agency or institution is a huge lapse.