New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal
NEWARK – Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and the Division of Consumer Affairs Aug. 15 announced that the State Board of Nursing revoked the license of a registered nurse who repeatedly stabbed a 10-year-old autistic child with a hypodermic needle for disobeying her orders.
Grewal said Naomi Derrick of Sicklerville continually threatened the child by saying she would give him a needle if he did not behave and then carried through with the threat by jabbing him with it on at least six occasions during a 12-hour overnight shift a AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City on May 15, 2016.
In a series of incidents witnessed by a fellow employee or captured on a security camera in the boy’s room, Derrick stuck the child on his upper arm, thigh, kneecaps, foot and hand, frequently drawing droplets of blood.
“Vulnerable children with special needs should be treated with the highest standard of care,” Grewal said in a release. “The conduct at issue in this case did not only fall far short of that standard, it demonstrated a level of cruelty that has no place in the nursing profession, and is entirely unacceptable.”
The state is also trying to revoke Derrick’s respiratory therapist license.
“Intimidating and terrorizing a developmentally disabled child who is completely dependent on your care is a horror that should not be visited upon anyone,” Acting Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs Paul R. Rodríguez said. “We’re taking appropriate steps to ensure that Naomi Derrick will never again be able to use her position as a licensed health care professional to abuse patients in this state, especially vulnerable children.”
In a Final Decision and Order filed Thursday, the board described Derrick’s conduct as “egregious and disturbing” and concluded that her interaction with the child amounted to gross and repeated acts of negligence, malpractice, incompetence, and professional misconduct. The board also found that Derrick lacked good moral character required of a nursing licensee.
“Quite simply, (Derrick) should not be a nurse,” the board concluded. “With her license revoked, she has lost the privilege to practice,” and the board would not be reinstated.
The board unanimously adopted the of an Administrative Law Judge who heard the case during a one-day trial in March 2019.
During the hearing, Derrick denied ever touching the boy with the needle but conceded that throughout the 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. shift she did continually unsheathe the needle and threaten him with it to “calm him down.”
Derrick testified that the boy would call her names, pull her hair, throw a sheet at her, and try to leave the room and go into other patients’ rooms. She admitted continually telling the boy that if he did not listen he would be “put in restraints and get the injection.” Derrick testified that another nurse had verbally instructed her to do that but the instruction was not in writing.
In June, the ALJ recommended that Derrick’s license be revoked.
During that hearing, Derrick suggested that her license be suspended for some period of time, arguing that that there was no evidence that the child was injured and that she had been a nurse for eight years and had no other disciplinary actions.
In addition to revoking Derrick’s license, the board ordered her to pay $2,166 representing 10% of the cost of the investigation and trial.
Derrick’s license was temporarily suspended in August 2016, pending the outcome of her case and any criminal charges filed against her as a result of her interaction with the child. In August 2017, Derrick was criminally charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats, child endangerment, and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose (the syringe.) In January 2019, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office allowed Derrick to enter a pretrial intervention program to resolve those charges.
This investigation was conducted by the Enforcement Bureau of the Division of Consumer Affairs. Deputy Attorney General David M. Puteska represented the state..
Patients who believe that they have been treated by a licensed health care professional in an inappropriate manner can file an online complaint with the State Division of Consumer Affairs by visiting its website or by calling 1-800-242-5846 (toll free within New Jersey) or 973-504- 6200.
