Nurse struck off for racist and sexual comments to colleagues
A nurse who made sexually inappropriate and racist comments while working in prisons was dismissed.
Paul Bryan Vogler was a registered nurse at HMP Huntercombe, HMP Pentonville and HMP Wormwood Scrubs until his suspension in 2020.
A Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) panel heard Vogler made far-right political comments to colleagues and asked patients about crimes they had committed.
It emerged that while working at HMP Huntercombe in 2018, Vogler challenged Patient A about his crime before searching Google and showing him written articles on his computer screen.
In 2019, while working at HMP Pentonville, he made sexually inappropriate comments about two colleagues, showed videos of far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos and made inappropriate jokes during an appointment with a self-harming patient.
The committee also heard Vogler had been “aggressive” towards black staff and made “sarcastic” comments about them during his time in employment.
This included questioning their medical practices and commenting on their food choices. He also called Islam a “death cult” and referred to his colleagues as “fuckin’ leftist c****”.
Vogler was previously suspended following various disciplinary proceedings and resigned in 2020.
He has now been removed from his post after the panel issued an interim restraining order for 18 months, covering any appeal period, “for the protection of the public”.
In its written decision, the NMC said: “In the panel’s view, Mr Vogler’s misconduct revealed deep-seated attitudinal issues, including racial and sexual discrimination. The panel determined that, given the seriousness of the concerns, deep-seated attitudinal issues and Mr Vogler’s lack of insight, there were no appropriate, proportionate and enforceable conditions that could be formulated.”
The board said that while there were “no concerns” about her clinical competence, her racist and sexist attitudes were “fundamentally incompatible” with her remaining on the register.
“Mr. Vogler violated the nursing profession’s fundamental principles of putting people first, practicing safely, and promoting professionalism and trust in the nursing profession,” she said.
