A former AtlantiCare nurse criminally charged with stabbing a 10-year-old autistic boy with a hypodermic needle in 2016 has had her license revoked.
Naomi Derrick was accused of stabbing the boy numerous times with a hypodermic needle and bending back his finger until it cracked to get him to follow her orders May 15, 2016, while at the inpatient psychiatric unit at AtlantiCare Regional Center's City Campus.
Derrick also attempted to force the boy to follow her orders by stepping on his bare foot with her shoe and forcing him to fall by repeatedly shoving a chair he was holding onto, according to court documents, which said all of the incidents were either caught on video surveillance or witnessed by someone else.
She was fired the next day.
The Sicklerville woman's "conduct was disturbing and egregious," the State Board of Nursing wrote in its decision. "Quite simply (she) should not be a nurse."
Derrick had agreed to a temporary suspension of her license as a registered nurse at the time.
But her license as a respiratory care practitioner remains active, according to New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs records.
It seems she continued working in the health care profession, even afer criminal charges were filed in August of 2017.
Anyone "looking for quality care for you loved one" should contact the home health care agency she as working with, she tweeted Nov. 1, 2018.
The state is now moving to revoke that license as well, which is under the State Board of Respiratory Care.
She now works at a retail store for $10 an hour, she told the board.
"Vulnerable children with special needs should be treated with the highest standard of care," Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said. "The conduct at issue in this case did not only fall far short of that standard, it demonstrated a level of cruelty that has no place in the nursing profession, and is entirely unacceptable."
Derrick testified at her hearing last month that the boy would call her names, pull her hair, throw a sheet at her, and try to leave the room and go into other patients' rooms. She admitted continually telling the boy that if he did not listen he would be "put in restraints and get the injection." Derrick testified that another nurse had verbally instructed her to do that but the instruction was not in writing..
She argued at her hearing that there was no evidence the child was physically injured, and suggested her license instead be suspended.
But the damage was beyond physical, pointed out Division of Consumer Affairs Acting Director Paul Rodriguez.
"Intimidating and terrorizing a developmentally disabled child who is completely dependent on your care is a horror that should not be visited upon anyone," he said. "We're taking appropriate steps to ensure that Naomi Derrick will never again be able to use her position as a licensed health care professional to abuse patients in this state, especially vulnerable children."
An investigation led to six criminal charges against Derrick, including two second-degree counts of aggravated assault.
She avoided conviction by being accepted into the pretrial intervention program this past December, when a prosecutor's decision overrode an initial rejection of her admission into the program.
In addition to revoking Derrick's license, the board ordered her to pay 10 percent of the costs arising from the investigation and prosecution of her case, which totaled $2,166.
The state argued she should be held responsible for all for the courts but the board opted to follow the Administrative Law judge's recommendation of 10 percent.
This investigation was conducted by the Enforcement Bureau of the Division of Consumer Affairs.
Patients who believe that they have been treated by a licensed health care professional in an inappropriate manner can file an online complaint with the State Division of Consumer Affairs by visiting its website or by calling 1-800-242-5846 (toll free within New Jersey) or 973-504- 6200.
