Nursing assistant slapped a depressed senior citizen. She got slapped with a suspension
A St. Petersburg nursing assistant has had her license suspended by the Florida Department of Health after slapping a senior citizen.
Records say Litamene Destine aka Litamene Celeste had been a licensed nursing assistant for exactly 23 years and one week when she resorted to violence to deal with a patient at Boca Ciega Rehabilitation Center in Gulfport last November.
According to the emergency suspension order (ESO), “J.K.” was a 66-year-old woman “with a history of bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and personality disorder.” She also “was known to call staff derogatory names and to be combative.”
On Nov. 22, the ESO said, Destine and another nursing assistant were tending to J.K. when the patient “became combative, called Destine derogatory names and struck Destine in the stomach.”
Destine’s reaction: “Destine hit J.K. at least one time with an open hand and told J.K. to stop hitting her.”
Boca Ciega said in an email to the Miami Herald Wednesday that Destine no longer works there.
The Department of Health wrote in the order: “Destine’s behavior of striking a patient in retaliation to the patient’s words and actions indicates that Destine lacks the judgment or moral character, patience, and compassion necessary to practice as a nursing assistant in a manner that is safe for patients.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2019 at 11:00 AM.
