A British health authority faces legal action for calling a Christian nurse a “potential risk” after she said “Mister” to a transgender prisoner jailed for luring boys into sex acts by pretending to be a teenage girl on social media.
Jennifer Melle, a 40-year-old resident of Croydon born in Uganda, also endured a racial slur by the inmate and National Health Service (NHS) lawyers terming her biblical beliefs on gender “not worthy of respect in a democratic society,” sources said.
The Epsom and St. Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust has treated the nurse as a criminal and abandoned her, according to rights group Christian Concern. The group objected to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) terming Melle “a potential risk” for not using the inmate’s preferred gender identity, sources said.
Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Melle has launched an appeal against Epsom and St. Helier NHS Foundation Trust for discrimination, harassment, victimization and breaches of her human rights under Article 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the European Court of Human Rights. The full employment tribunal hearing is expected next February.
Melle said she had never encountered any problems with previous transgender patients under her care, according to a press statement by Christian Concern.
“I am devastated by how I have been treated and believe I am being institutionally abused, harassed, bullied and racially discriminated against,” Melle said. “Ever since I have expressed my Christian beliefs under extreme pressure, I have been a marked woman. I do not feel supported by my colleagues, or the NHS, following the racial abuse and threat of physical violence I received from the patient.”
Melle said she maintained a professional demeanor and treated every individual in her work with dignity and respect.
She encountered the unnamed inmate, brought from a men’s prison for hospital treatment, during a night shift on May 22. He entered the hospital chained to two guards, and was “clearly masculine in appearance, standing over six feet tall and of large build,” according to Christian Concern.
At 10 p.m., Melle learned the inmate wanted to discharge himself from the hospital. He was reportedly shouting and upsetting other patients on the ward. She told a doctor by phone that “Mr. X [as identified by Christian Concern] would like to self-discharge,” but the prisoner, overhearing her, allegedly shouted, “Do not call me Mister! I am a woman!”
Christian Concern reported the prisoner racially abused Melle when she approached his room. When he said, “Imagine if I called you a nigger?” Melle responded, “I am sorry I cannot refer to you as her or she, as it’s against my faith and Christian values, but I can call you by your name,” according to Christian Concern.
The prisoner responded, “Imagine if I called you nigger. How about I call you nigger? Yes, black nigger,” according to Christian Concern.
Melle required help from security as the inmate reportedly lunged threateningly at her. He followed her out of the room and threatened to report her to police for “homophobia” and to the health authority’s Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS).
Under pressure from hospital management to make a statement, she outlined her Christian belief that God created humanity male and female. Superiors told her she had to attend a meeting with Human Resources, and that if she refused to comply, she would be sent home until an investigation was completed.
Managers redeployed her to another hospital unit, a move amounting to a demotion, according to Christian Concern. They also deleted her name from the internal system so she can no longer work over-time, affecting her family income.
Management gave her a final written warning at a disciplinary hearing in October.
Health leaders accused her of “not respecting the patient’s preferred identity,” saying her actions and behavior had “fallen short of the Trust’s value of respect.”
Her case was referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) after an investigation concluded Melle broke the NMC Code of Conduct, which states nurses should not express personal beliefs inappropriately.
Melle stated that her conduct had been fully compliant with the code throughout her career, including during the reported incident with the transgender patient.
“I have been put at risk, but I am being treated like a criminal,” she said in the Christian Concern statement. “Sadly, if you put your head above the parapet and speak truthfully on these issues in the NHS, the risk is that you will be knocked down, punished severely and demoted.
“The message to me during the investigation is that I should put up with extreme racism and deny biological reality and my deeply held Christian beliefs for the sake of ‘inclusivity’ and respecting lies. It feels like I am dreaming, but I am trusting in Jesus to look after me.”
Melle said she had to take a stand on the issue as she was concerned about how many other NHS workers were suffering in silence in similar incidents.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, said that the NHS appeared to be “captured by transgender ideology to the point it is prepared to back a convicted pedophile.”
She said the pedophile was evidently disturbed and shouted racist comments at the Christian nurse.
“Jennifer Melle was genuinely doing her best while not wanting to deny her Christian faith and biological reality,” Williams said. “We thought we had seen it all when it comes to controversial legal cases on these issues, but what Jennifer Melle is experiencing at the hands of this ideology is off the scale and on a whole new disturbing level.”
Williams pointed out that Melle retained a genuine love for Christ and, as a talented nurse, deserved to be supported and protected, not investigated and silenced.
“The Trust cannot force compelled speech on their staff, and an urgent U-turn and apology is needed,” said Williams, issuing a plea to U.K. Secretary of Health Wes Streeting to investigate the matter. She pointed out Streeting has stated his horror at an unrelated employment tribunal involving nurses at Darlington Memorial Hospital who objected to a transgender person, born a man, undressing in their changing room.
“It’s time for government intervention on this matter,” Williams said. “It’s time for the government to stop equality and diversity policies being weaponized in the NHS to punish innocent nurses just doing their job.”
