'I will kill you, I will cut you into pieces and I will poke your eyes out': Nurse struck off for astonishing tirade at clinic manager

Published: 15:10 EST, 17 April 2012 | Updated: 15:45 EST, 17 April 2012

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A nurse has been struck off after threatening to chop her clinic manager into ‘little pieces’ and bury her in the ground.

Margaret Amao told her manager Kathleen Booth that she would poke her eyes out and pour a patient’s urine all over her after being asked to test a sample.

Ms Booth told a tribunal she felt ‘very distressed and frightened’ when Amao started shouting at her and has needed counselling since the argument in July 2009.

Struck off: Nurse Margaret Amao, left, was struck off after threatening to 'chop up' her clinic manager Kathleen Booth, right, after being asked to test a sample

The Nursing and Midwifery Council heard patients in the waiting room at the Cumberland Medical Centre in Plaistow, east London, complained after the incident.

The tribunal found Amao's fitness to practice was found to be impaired by reason of her misconduct and she was struck off.

The hearing was told that Ms Booth had visited nurse Amao to ask if she would check a pregnant woman’s urine because the doctor was busy and Amao had only seen two patients that morning.

Amao had allegedly refused because the woman, identified as Patient A, was pregnant and her urine would normally be tested at the pathology lab.

Ms Booth said: ‘She shouted at me. She said ‘I can do what I want, I don’t care’ and started pacing up and down the corridor.

‘She also said: ‘It’s not my fault the patient’s pregnant.

'I became concerned she had breached patient confidentiality because the patients in the waiting area could hear and she responded ‘f*** off’.

‘I felt very anxious and intimidated by Miss Amao’s behaviour - I was so distressed I picked up the urine sample, which was in a hazard bag, and threw it to the floor.

‘She looked at the hazard bag and said: ‘Look at that, I will pour it all over you.'

Ms Booth said she went outside to calm down but Amao simply followed and continued to shout abuse.

She said: ‘She continued shouting: 'I will kill you, see what I will do to you, I will cut you up into little pieces and bury the pieces in the ground'.

‘As she made these statements she pointed to the floor where she was standing. Her face was still inches from mine.

‘She threatened to gouge my eyes out and made chopping motions with her hands in front of my face.

‘She began pacing up and down and threatened to kill me. She said, 'do not poke your fingers at me, I will pick your eyes out'.

‘I was very scared of her. I thought she was going to hurt me. She was really aggressive and was completely in my face. I was backed up against the wall and got a sharp pain in my back.’

Ms Booth said the incident had a traumatic effect on her: ‘I was having nightmares. I was seeing things. I am still seeing a counsellor. Over the last few years I have been unable to do my job properly and concentrate.

‘I seem to get stressed very quickly and I think it is because of the bad dreams, nightmares. I keep seeing bad things.’

Amao, who represented herself at the hearing in central London, denied the allegations.