By Gretchen Keiser

Through her attorney, Carol Ann Freeman Griffith has denied that she administered two unauthorized doses of potassium to an elderly, terminally ill patient last December with the intention of killing the patient.

The former St. Joseph’s Hospital intensive care nurse lost her job and had her nursing license suspended before Christmas after unidentified co-workers alleged she admitted giving the shots December 15 to 87-year-old patient on a respirator. The allegations also said Mrs. Griffith admitted she intended to cause the patient’s death and did not record the shots on the patient’s medical chart.

Attorney Mary Lou Keener denied the allegations January 9. She said Mrs. Griffith does not know who made the accusations against her and that she has not been given an opportunity to make a detailed response either by St. Joseph’s Hospital or the Georgia Board of Nursing.

“St. Joseph’s just summarily suspended her,” Ms. Keener said. “Obviously they made a conclusion. What they based their conclusion on, I don’t know. The (Board of Nursing) never asked my client what happened. She never spoke to a board investigator.”

“This has devastated this woman,” she said. “It has ruined her professional reputation regardless of what the outcome is.”

A March 10 hearing has been scheduled by the Board of Nursing for Mrs. Griffith to respond to the charges which led to her license being summarily suspended December 24, 1991.

Fulton County District Attorney Lewis Slaton’s office had not filed any criminal charges in the case of January 10, although it has been under investigation since St. Joseph’s reported the incident in late December.

In its report, St. Joseph’s asserted the events did not cause or hasten the death of the patient, who died December 16 after family members made the decision to turn of the respirator.

Three other members of the nursing staff were suspended from their jobs by St. Joseph’s based on their alleged knowledge of the incident. They will remain suspended until the district attorney’s investigation is complete, hospital spokesman Von Roebuck said. Depending on the outcome of the investigation, he said, their suspension will be reviewed.

Mrs. Griffith, who lives in Acworth, has been a nurse since 1974, according to her attorney, and a critical care nurse since 1978. Before moving to Atlanta because of her husband’s job, she worked in the Baltimore area, Mrs. Keener said.

Roebuck declined to comment on the assertion that the nurse had been denied due process by the hospital and was not permitted to face her accusers.

Citing confidentiality, the hospital has not identified either the patient or the nurse involved. Mrs. Griffith’s name was disclosed when her license was suspended by the Board of Nursing. Mrs. Griffith has been unavailable for comment.