nursing assistant suspended for hitting woman, 83 The quality of care for elderly dementia patients in NSW is again under a cloud after a nursing assistant was suspended for hitting an 83-year-old Aboriginal woman and then subjecting her to a cold shower. The Health Care Complaints Commission found nursing assistant Phyllis Brauer breached her duty of care during an incident at the Booroongen Djugen Aboriginal Corporation Aged Care Facility near Kempsey on the NSW north coast. A colleague reported Ms Brauer as having hit the patient's hand three times before screaming at her: "You should just die out on the f--king road." The colleague, referred to as "Mr B" by the commission, alleged the tirade on February 15 was in response to the elderly patient having become aggressive. The resident suffered severe dementia and normally resided with her daughter at nearby Bowraville but was staying at Booroongen for respite care. Mr B alleged Ms Brauer showered the resident with cold water as punishment for her behaviour and that when Resident A complained about the water temperature, Ms Brauer rammed a chair into the back of her legs. It is the second time in a month that NSW medical authorities have suspended a nurse for ill-treatment of an elderly care home resident. Fairfax Media revealed a male nurse at a home in Bexley, southern Sydney, was sacked for forcing an elderly dementia patient to get down all fours and beg for cigarettes. The nurse, Andrew James Davis, 52, also forced a female patient, 99, to suck his thumb. During an examination by the commission on August 21, Ms Brauer described the elderly resident as "a feisty old girl" but denied all allegations that she had hit her or mistreated her in any way. She said Mr B had made up the complaint as a means to get her more lucrative weekend shifts. But Commissioner Kieran Pehm upheld all aspects of the complaint, finding that Ms Brauer had breached the nursing code of conduct by failing to provide a health service in a safe and ethical manner.