![\"Jerymay](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/0_Jerymay-Gargallano.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA fitness-to-practise inquiry of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland heard Jerymay Gargallano made full admissions to four allegations about her conduct<\/p>\n
Jerymay Gargallano<\/p>\n
A nurse who posted a photo of a nursing home resident asleep on faeces-covered bedsheets on social media with a caption “living the dream” is to be sanctioned after being found guilty of professional misconduct.<\/p>\n
A fitness-to-practise inquiry of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland heard the nurse, Jerymay Gargallano, made full admissions to four allegations about her conduct while working a night shift at Cairnhill Nursing Home in Herbert Road, Bray<\/a>, Co Wicklow<\/a> on July 1-2, 2025. The inquiry heard Ms Gargallano took a photo of a female resident asleep on heavily soiled sheets which showed her legs and another one of the bedsheets after she had been taken out of it.<\/p>\n The Filipino nurse, who has been working in Ireland since 2023, was accused of then posting the photos on her Instagram account with the caption “Living the dream! One disaster at a time” followed by a sunglasses emoji. A NMBI fitness-to-practise sub-committee found the nurse’s conduct also amounted to poor professional performance and breaches of the NMBI’s Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics.<\/p>\n “Nurses dealing with vulnerable patients should be upholding the patient’s dignity and privacy and providing the necessary care rather than taking photographs,” said the inquiry chairperson, Conan McKenna. Counsel for Ms Gargallano, Katie Morrissey BL, issued an apology on behalf of the nurse for what she claimed was “a severe lack of judgement” and conduct which could not be justified.<\/p>\n Ms Morrissey said her client was genuinely remorseful for an isolated incident that was “out of character.” The inquiry heard that the photos remained online for two hours before being removed, while there were different claims over whether Ms Gargallano’s account had 200 or 1,800 followers.<\/p>\n However, a former colleague of the nurse who was “heartbroken and outraged” after seeing the photos online complained to HIQA who reported the incident to the NMBI. Counsel for the NMBI, Caoimhe Daly BL, claimed Ms Gargallano’s conduct was improper as there was no clinical justification for taking invasive photos and posting them on social media.<\/p>\n The inquiry heard that the nurse was suspended after her employer, Trinity Care, became aware of the incident and she was subsequently dismissed following a disciplinary process. At the outset of the inquiry, the sub-committee rejected an application by Ms Morrissey that the nurse’s name should be anonymised in media reports of the hearing.<\/p>\n It also rejected her application to deal with the case by censuring the nurse and accepting undertakings about her future conduct as well as undergoing any recommended training. The application had been strenuously opposed by Ms Daly who argued any sanction should be “at the opposite end” of the scale for such “egregious” behaviour.<\/p>\n Mr McKenna said it could not accept the application given the very serious issue regarding a vulnerable resident who was in urgent need of care at the time of the incident as well as the need to protect the public. The resident’s daughter told the inquiry that her mother, who died three months ago aged 94, was “powerless and vulnerable.”<\/p>\n The woman explained her mother was initially in Cairn Hill for a short-stay following surgery but had become a permanent resident due to her advanced age and the excellent care she received. The woman said her mother was happy in the nursing home and loved by all staff, while she understood Ms Gargallano \u2013 who was known as “Mimi” \u2013 had been the nurse appointed to her mother for over two years.<\/p>\n She said the nurse should have known her mother was not incontinent and the soilage was the result of a side-effect of medication. The witness said her mother took great pride in her appearance and would have been devastated and deeply upset if she had known that such photos had been taken. The woman had also chosen not to look at the photos.<\/p>\n She said her family were informed about the incident at a meeting on July 9, 2025 but were told they could not see the photos or be told the name of the nurse. They were “extremely distressed and in total shock at the gross violation of our mother’s privacy and dignity.”<\/p>\n “We were so shocked, angry and distressed by what we had just been told that we didn’t feel able to visit our mother,” she added. However, the woman said they were overcome with emotion to find their mother happy when they returned later that day.<\/p>\n She said her family’s decision not to tell her mother about the violation of her basic human rights was very difficult. The witness said they also felt abandoned after receiving the initial information and they had to spend \u20ac2,840 in legal fees to obtain their mother’s medical records.<\/p>\n The woman said they were also extremely concerned to discover there was an existing market for such photos because of its potential association with pornography and coprophilia. However, she said they were satisfied otherwise with the care their mother received at Cairnhill, although their trust in the healthcare system had been “severely eroded.”<\/p>\n In a written statement, the nursing home’s director of nursing, Louise Moran, said the nurse became visibly upset when informed she was being suspended. The inquiry heard the nurse still had the photos on her phone on July 7, 2025.<\/p>\n Ms Moran said she had never encountered such an incident in her 25-year career and was uncertain how to deal with it. She subsequently reported the matter to garda\u00ed in Bray and she believed that investigation was ongoing.<\/p>\n In a separate statement, Trinity Care HR manager, Melissa Smith, said she was not satisfied with the original explanation given by the nurse that she had removed the photos from her Instagram account because the resident’s foot could be seen. She recalled that Ms Gargallano thought her actions at the time were harmless and she had no intention of shaming or degrading the resident or to make fun of the situation.<\/p>\n Ms Smith said the nurse eventually told her she had taken the photos to show her friends that it was “no joke working in a nursing home,” even though the nursing home’s policy prohibited having a mobile phone while on duty. The inquiry heard the nurse was also dealing with personal issues at the time and that she had recently lost another nursing job.<\/p>\n At the conclusion of the hearing, Mr McKenna said the committee would issue a report with a recommended sanction to the NMBI board in due course.<\/p>\n Want to see more of the stories you love from Dublin Live? Making us your preferred source on Google<\/a> means you\u2019ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Dublin Live as a preferred source, simply click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Join our Dublin Live breaking news service on WhatsApp. Click this link <\/a>to receive your daily dose of Dublin Live content.<\/p>\n We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out any time you like. 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