INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Nurse Convicted Of Snapping Pic Of Unconscious Patient’s Penis Surrenders License

By Amy Feinstein
Published on: 14:18 PST, Mar 28, 2016

Kristen Johnson, now a former nurse in Upstate New York, has turned over her nursing license after being convicted of photographing two naked and anesthetized patients, one with his penis exposed, with her iPhone, and then sending the photos via text message to others. Johnson turned over her license as part of her plea deal, where she admitted that she was mentally unfit to continue being a nurse. The compromised patients were contacted and are aware of the situation. The male patient’s penis was exposed and was the focus of the photo.

According to Syracuse, Kristen Johnson has not worked at the hospital since her arrest for taking the penis picture. In August 2014, Johnson took a photo with her iPhone of “an incapacitated male patient’s genitals” and circulated them via text message. Though Johnson was originally charged with a felony, she pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disseminating of unlawful surveillance photos.

The New York Daily News is reporting that Kristen Johnson of Fulton has surrendered her nursing license after being convicted of taking and sharing penis pictures over the phone of a patient with no consent. Johnson admitted that she is no longer fit morally and otherwise to continue to work as a nurse.

Johnson was caught and arrested by authorities after two of her co-workers complained that she was taking photos of the genitals of patients while they were unconscious. After investigating the matter, Johnson was arrested at Upstate University Hospital.

WRGB Albany says that though Johnson was charged originally with a felony after taking and sharing the penis picture, pleading guilty to the misdemeanor saved the victims the agony of going to court. Johnson’s conviction for taking the penis pictures and one other, came after a nine-month investigation by the Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office after her co-workers complained, in one case, for receiving the penis picture via text.

Johnson will not spend any time in jail as a result of taking and sharing the penis picture, but in addition to surrendering her nursing license, Johnson will be on probation for three years.

WPIX11 said that in addition to the penis picture, Johnson also took pictures of a female patient, along with another nurse that was cleaning a patient for a gastrointestinal blood clot procedure. It is still unclear why Johnson took the photos, including the penis photo, and why she then shared the photos with others.

Syracuse said that Johnson took the video of the patients involved, including of a man’s penis, and a woman’s abdomen. As part of electronics seized in the investigation, police found the penis photos on Johnson’s phone and her laptop. They also found photos of the woman’s rectum along with the penis pictures.

There is currently not a way to check out nurses, like a patient would a doctor, but the hospital where Johnson took the penis photos said that this was totally unacceptable behavior, and the day they found out about the photos taken of the patient’s penis, they fired Johnson immediately.

Do you think that nurses taking photos of unconscious patients are more common than one would think? Do you think Kristen Johnson got off easy for taking penis pictures of a patient?

[Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images]

Share this article: Nurse Convicted Of Snapping Pic Of Unconscious Patient’s Penis Surrenders License
More from Inquisitr