Nurse describes ‘unusual’ level of observation note-taking for starving ballerina, parents in hospital

WARNING: CONFRONTING IMAGES A nurse who observed Floreat’s starving ballerina with her parents at Perth Children’s Hospital says she was instructed to “write down everything they did” after the teen was taken into State care. At the parents’ District Court of WA trial on Thursday, the mother complained at length about how she, her husband and emaciated daughter were treated, saying they were “completely powerless” with “everything” taken “out of our hands”. On Friday, the final defence witness was called, describing the level of detail with which she had been told to write down their movements, conversations and behaviours as “unusual”. Dorothy Best told the court that she had performed “one-to-one companion” work for a handful of other patients over her eight or so years as a nurse. But on April 11, 2021, the volume of notes she was tasked with compiling was more than usual “by a margin”. “I remembered it because it was unusual,” Ms Best testified. “There was someone like me stationed with them 24/7.” She told the court that in her handover, the night shift nurse advised the Department of Communities was involved and described the 16-year-old as looking and acting “a lot younger”. “Her parents don’t let her leave the house, she doesn’t go to school ...” the handover continued. Ms Best read out her notes, including how the home-schooled vegan teen wanted her mother to accompany her to the toilet to hold her nasogastric tube out of the way. The agency nurse described the mother as “anxious” in the notes but told the court that she “probably used the term too liberally” as it was applied if “any concern” was raised. There are notes about them playing Uno, the mother “talking at length” about the family cat and the girl remarking that she must be getting used to needle sticks after an “uneventful” blood draw. “Mother expresses feeling of being puzzled by the whole affair but understands it on a rational level,” another note read. While the keen dancer was being tube-fed, she and her mum were heard criticising hospital food as too processed and unappealing. “I thought it was pretty normal,” Ms Best told the court. “Most of this stuff was not worth commenting on and really benign.” The dad’s lawyer Oliver Paxman asked her if she had been instructed to place more of an emphasis on problems in the notes and replied: “The short answer is yes.” Prosecutor Jenha Winter asked Ms Best if she had been told to fabricate observations to make them sound worse and responded: “No.” The nurse confirmed that she only had one shift observing the family, from 7.20am to 2.30pm. Her testimony comes after a dramatic last-minute twist on Thursday when the daughter, who is now a 20-year-old teacher, was withdrawn from giving evidence as a defence witness. The court has been told she was placed with an uncle after her 50-day hospital stay, then her paternal grandfather before returning to her parents’ western suburbs home “immediately” she turned 18. Closing addresses will be heard next week before the jury considers its verdict. If you need help or support for an eating disorder or body image issue, please call Butterfly’s National Helpline on 1800 334 673 or email support@butterfly.org.au Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800