Fake nurse who treated hundreds of patients in Kingston sentenced to house arrest

Dan Taekema · CBC News

· Posted: May 06, 2025 1:38 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

A 24-year-old Kingston, Ont., pistillate has been sentenced to location arrest for what a judge called a bid of lies that included forging nursing credentials that allowed her to dainty astir 200 patients before being recovered out.

Madeline Stenhouse appeared successful the Ontario Court of Justice connected Tuesday wearing a achromatic suit and glasses. She nodded as Justice Alison Wheeler described her "youthfulness" arsenic a crushed to amusement restraint successful sentencing.

"Ms. Stenhouses's offending was the merchandise of immaturity successful not knowing however to judge oregon woody with the information that she failed nursing school," the justice work from her decision.

The fake caregiver was sentenced to 2 years little a day to beryllium served successful the community, including 18 months of location arrest.

She was besides ordered to implicit 240 hours of assemblage work with the Elizabeth Fry Society and to wage $40,000 to the University Hospitals for Kingston Foundation.

In delivering her sentence, Wheeler said patients trust connected the health-care strategy and indispensable beryllium assured they're being cared for by professionals.

"Ms. Stenhouses's conduct was calculated, sustained and had the imaginable to harm a wide scope of radical who were successful a medically susceptible state," said the judge.

Stenhouse previously pleaded blameworthy to defrauding Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) of much than $5,000 and utilizing a forged document.

Court heard she repeatedly lied astir her level of acquisition and provided falsified credentials, including a photograph of a grade she had not earned and a doctored screenshot from the website for the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO).

Assistant Crown lawyer Courtney Cottle had called for a jail sentence, urging the court to gully a "harsh line" to deter anyone other considering impersonating a health-care worker.

Stenhouse actively deceived the infirmary and enactment radical astatine hazard each day despite aggregate opportunities to travel clean, the lawyer argued, adding the accused was "essentially committing fraud for 672 days."

"It's not a substance whether it was astir fiscal gain, immaturity, wanting to delight her parents.… This is astir her being successful a presumption of responsibility to attraction for radical erstwhile they're highly vulnerable," said the Crown.

"The lone way ... to effort and halt this behaviour is to amusement radical that you volition spell to jail. Real jail."

'I regret each second'

Stenhouse apologized, describing her apprehension arsenic a "wake-up call" and taking responsibility for her actions.

"I ne'er intended to origin harm and it is not mislaid connected me, the seriousness of what I did," she work from a portion of insubstantial during an April court appearance. "I regret each 2nd of it."

On Tuesday, Wheeler work retired the facts of the case, counting seven lies Stenhouse had told during her clip astatine the Kingston General Hospital.

She initially applied to beryllium a nursing assistant in April 2021, providing verification of enrolment from St. Lawrence College showing she was successful her 3rd year. However, she had forged that document, tribunal heard. 

In fact, Stenhouse had dropped retired successful the autumn of 2019 and each accusation she provided astir her studies was false. That included her exertion successful April 2022 to work arsenic a registered nurse, according to the facts.

Court heard Stenhouse was fixed the paperwork to get a temporary licence but ne'er submitted it. Meanwhile, she completed "buddy shifts" and was assigned to a surgical floor.

Starting successful August 2022, she began caring for patients without supervision, doing truthful for astir 5 months earlier she was asked to supply her assemblage registration fig connected Jan. 25, 2023.

Stenhouse sent a screenshot of the CNO website that appeared to show her licence and registration number, but erstwhile infirmary unit contacted the college they learned she wasn't successful its database.

During a Jan. 30, 2023, gathering with infirmary staff, Stenhouse admitted she'd created the screenshot, but claimed she'd sent it by mistake, the justice work from the facts.

Two days later, she again met with unit astatine the infirmary and was asked to supply impervious of her education. Instead, she showed a representation of her degree, saying she hadn't brought the archetypal due to the fact that she'd travelled by bus, tribunal heard.

Stenhouse was fired that aforesaid day. Court was told her net including benefits totalled $46,717.02.

Credentials casual to check, assemblage says

Defence lawyer Michael Mandelcorn had called for his lawsuit to beryllium sentenced to location arrest.

While helium agreed that a nurse without due grooming could perchance enactment patients astatine risk, helium noted determination had been nary complaints about the attraction Stenhouse had provided.

Mandelcorn said his client started struggling with anxiousness and slump successful precocious school, which continued arsenic she started her nursing program.

Asked by Justice Wheeler wherefore Stenhouse impersonated a nurse, the lawyer said it was a hard question to reply but suggested her intelligence health and unwillingness to archer her parents that she'd flunked retired had played a role.

"If Ms. Stenhouse ... could wholly articulate wherefore she did that, she would not person done it," Mandelcorn said.

Hospital says it's made changes

KHSC announced successful February 2023 that it had fired an worker who provided "extensive forged documentation" successful bid to treat roughly 200 patients. A spokesperson said it was the archetypal clip KHSC had encountered specified a situation.

Following the incident, the infirmary said it had changed its policies truthful that orientation for caller nursing graduates would lone statesman aft their registration had been verified. The infirmary volition besides cheque the status of its nurses with CNO monthly instead of annually.

The college previously told CBC it has online tools to rapidly cheque the registration presumption of anyone claiming to beryllium a nurse, nevertheless a simple online hunt of Stenhouse's archetypal and past sanction utilizing the CNO's "Find a Nurse" instrumentality revealed no results.

Instead, her sanction present appears connected a database of "unregistered practitioners," which the college's website states is for individuals who are not nurses but may "holding themselves out" arsenic qualified for the job.