A Saskatoon Court of Queen's Bench judge has dismissed an appeal by a Saskatchewan nurse who was found guilty of professional misconduct after making a Facebook post about her grandfather's care.
Nurse Carolyn Strom was fined $26,000 by the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses' Association after criticizing her grandfather's palliative care online.
In his decision, Justice Grant Currie wrote that he could find no reason to interfere with the association's decision.
"Even if the court might have decided the matter differently, the court will not change the administrative body's decision unless the court is persuaded that the decision is unreasonable," wrote Currie. "The significance of giving deference is that such an administrative body's decision can be reasonable even if it is not correct."
Strom's lawyer argued the penalty was excessive and unreasonable. He made the case that it was important that people in self-regulating professions be allowed to make public comments about public issues.
Currie disagreed that the association unreasonably limited the nurse's freedom of speech.
"The discipline committee balanced the right to freedom of expression with the need, under the Act, to address Ms. Strom's professional misconduct," he wrote. "Having found professional misconduct not because she expressed her concerns but because of how she went about it, the committee observed that Ms. Strom was not left without an avenue for expressing her concerns."
Currie also wrote that the $26,000 cost was not unreasonable, in part because the association noted the cost to run the tribunal exceeded that amount by roughly six times.
The nurse was also ordered to write a self-reflective essay on what she did wrong, and complete an online course on the associations's code of ethics.
Strom did not work in the care home her grandfather was living in.
A fundraising campaign raised enough money to pay for the fine.