A Dundee gynaecology nurse phoned her ward from the Ninewells Hospital car park to say she had left a foetus in the fridge instead of sending it to the mortuary.
Grace MacKenzie tried to blame the day shift staff who took her call for not dealing with the unborn baby’s body in the proper way after a termination procedure.
A conduct and competence panel of the Nursing and Midwifery Council in Edinburgh found the case against her proved, however, and they will meet in January to consider a punishment.
The band 5 registered nurse, who qualified in 2005, had been on ward 36 at Ninewells for more than two years when the incident with the foetus occurred on the night shift of February 20 2009.
Charge nurse Elizabeth Morris said Ms MacKenzie had correctly completed the paperwork but the foetus had not been sent to the mortuary with documentation at the appropriate time.
It had been left in the ward fridge and was there until she came on duty on the late shift on February 21.
The policy is that the baby’s body should remain in the cold store area for as long as the mother remains on the ward and wishes to see her baby.
Ms MacKenzie, who chose not to attend the hearing, admitted in a written response that she left the foetus in the fridge.
The hearing was told that in these situations she would complete all the relevant paperwork, put the foetus in the fridge and phone a porter for a mortuary collection.
Senior charge nurse Frances Grant had stated that Nurse MacKenzie had called from the car park after night duty to inform the day staff that the foetus had not been collected.
Nurse MacKenzie said in her statement: ”If I had called the ward just after 7am, why was the foetus allowed to be left in the fridge for another seven hours?”
She said in her case management form she called the ward from her car after night duty no more than four hours after delivery.
She added: ”The late shift came on at 2pm which means day staff left this undelivered for a further seven hours at least.”
Four other allegations against Ms MacKenzie were found proved, one was found part proved and three allegations were found not proved.