Tara Seymour, a mother-of-one who has been nursing since 2011 at the John Fawkner Private Hospital in Coburg, said that the night before her urine sample, she engaged in sexual activity with a man who was high on cocaine.
Seymour, who was already required to do routine drug tests after testing positive for methamphetamine, amphetamine and non-prescribed sedative zolpidem, told the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal that she had no idea her lover was under the influence, and hadn't showered or urinated between the time of the sex and her drug test that afternoon.
Chemical pathologist Julia Chang told the Board it was theoretically possible to record a positive urine test from cross contamination sex, she considered this was “highly improbable” and unlikely to produce the levels recorded by Ms Seymour, The Herald Sun reports.
While the Board found Seymour's story "unlikely", by arguing her case, the nurse, who is called "passionate" by her colleagues, managed to reduce the frequency of her drug tests.
VCAT deputy president Heather Lambrick says that the Board can't understand how if Seymour has indeed given up drugs, or is, at the most, a recreational user, how she couldn't abstain from using drugs even during a period when she knew she was being tested.
"Ms Seymour was well aware of the necessity to comply with the conditions on her registration. She was seemingly unable to do so," Lambrick noted.
Ms Seymour's case will be reviewed in three months.
This article first published on Marie Claire.
