Nurse reprimanded after faking grandfather’s death to Qantas
A nurse’s desperate lie to Qantas about her grandfather cost her her hospital job and landed her before a professional tribunal.
A Queensland nurse was brought before the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal by the Health Ombudsman this month after faking her grandfather’s death to avoid airfare.
The man, now 29, pleaded guilty in the Queensland Magistrates Court in August 2024 to forgery, libel and fraud, dishonestly obtaining property from another.
The court was told the nurse had purchased a flight ticket to attend her grandfather’s wedding in April 2024.
In late 2023, his grandfather suffered a non-life-threatening heart attack that left him unable to fly.
The nurse tried to cancel her grandfather’s ticket but was told the fare was non-refundable unless the intended passenger died.
Having received this information, the man then downloaded the Life Extinct form from the internet and fraudulently filled in the details using a fake unique registration number and a fake doctor’s signature.
He sent the completed form to Qantas and was given a $1,300 refund.
Queensland police were alerted to the nurse’s behavior and subsequently launched an investigation, eventually leading to her arrest.
He was ordered by the court to serve under a 12-month good behavior guarantee and pay compensation to Qantas.
He was also fired from his position at a Queensland hospital in 2024.
The court found that the nurse’s conduct was inconsistent with being a “fit and proper person for registration” in her profession and amounted to “professional misconduct”.
The man told the court he was recovering from a serious illness that left him with permanent disability.
He also claimed he had serious mental health issues, which a doctor noted may have contributed to his behavior at the time.
The man told the court he had completed further ethics training, pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and cooperated fully with the ombudsman in disciplinary proceedings, even self-reporting to AHPRA following the incident.
He claimed to have made significant improvements in his mental health and understanding of the seriousness of his actions.
Therefore, out of remorse, the court ordered that he be reprimanded for his actions but did not cancel his registration.
