As a nurse and a paramedic I am appalled at what has happened to this nurse, this is little more than the system sending a warning to any others who wish to speak out. In the words of Edmund Burke, "Evil prospers when good people do nothing" While I am not legally trained I believe there is is defence at law of necessity, and if these people were at risk and other measures had been attempted then I am with her. These Machiavellian bureaucrats who do this to patients need to be answerable , and people should not be left in situations like some of our dodgier nursing homes. You seem to think that she was just out to make a point, in my opinion if that point was that these patients are at risk then good on her. The consequences of inaction are often high. A whistleblower informed NASA of problems with the space shuttle more than a year before the Challenger disaster; a whistleblower informed regulators of the problems at Enron more than a year before its collapse. Those who don’t take action rarely pay a price. In my experience there are too many people in this world happy to whine, but when it comes to standing up they are always right behind you if you get my drift. Regardless of whether you or I agree with her at least she had the courage of her convictions which is more than most. Taken to its extreme, if voluntary euthanasia was ever bought in would it be a breach of confidentiality if a nurse did the same if the bureaucrats were applying pressure to clear beds, in Queensland in Australia there is currently a surgeon facing manslaughter and grievous bodily harm charges largely as a result of an ITU nurse who just wouldn't go away, had the press not got hold of it when they did I'm quite sure she would never work again either. Why is it that Health professionals are so darn quick to have a go at one another, and not the root cause of the problem?