A NURSE failed to check on a dying patient for five hours and told the family he was alive after he had passed away, it is claimed.
Darren Diplexcito admits telling the family by phone the patient was "unsettled" after he had died in May 2011. The 29-year-old also admits that when the family arrived at the hospital he falsely claimed the patient had died minutes earlier.
The nurse, from Montrose, Angus, claimed for a year he was with the patient when he died but the deception was eventually uncovered by a manager at NHS Tayside.
Mr Diplexcito, who admits a "huge error of judgment", now faces being struck off following an investigation by the Nursing and Midwifery Council.
He denies failing to check on the patient and said he acted out of a desire to ease the suffering of the family.
Mr Diplexcito lost his job in the incident.
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