Nursing ethics are in the spotlight after a nurse was cleared of professional misconduct despite admitting she had an affair with the husband of a lung cancer patient.

In the appeal case, a New Zealand High Court cleared ‘Nurse O’, who conceded meeting a cancer patient and her separated husband at a café before beginning a sexual relationship with the husband.

The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal had previously found the nurse guilty, ordering her to be suspended for six months, fined $1500 and ordered to do a course on ethics.

The Nursing Council of New Zealand has expressed disappointment at the High Court’s ruling.

“We were really disappointed in the High Court’s decision,” chief executive Carolyn Reed said.

“I think a lot of people in the profession are also disappointed with this ruling because we consider this is about the vulnerability of the patient and the nurse-client relationship.”

The country’s Code of Conduct for Nurses states examples of behaviour that could be considered to be a basis for finding of professional misconduct include “entering into a sexual or inappropriate intimate relationship with a client or ex-client” but does not specifically state patients’ families.

“This is just something we have seen as a given and haven’t been very specific about,” Ms Reed said.

“It’s the nurses’ responsibility to always remain professional. It’s a unique relationship. The nurse always has more information or power.”

The Nursing Council is now consulting on a new draft Professional Boundaries Guidelines it has been working on for the past two years, that includes the issue of sexual relationships with health consumers or their families.

“It is a reasonable expectation that the professional relationship will not be exploited in any way,” the draft guidelines state.

“This includes not entering into a sexual relationship with a health consumer’s partner or member of his or her family, particularly when the nurse is involved in a therapeutic relationship with the health consumer and has met the family members during that relationship.”