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Swedish nurse promised to 'rid spirits' from patients

TT/The Local
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Swedish nurse promised to 'rid spirits' from patients
A file photo of a nurse not related to the article. Photo: Tore Meek/NTB scanpix/TT

A nurse in eastern Sweden has been criticized by the country's Health and Social Care Inspectorate after she told patients with psychiatric problems that their symptoms were actually caused by spirits which her husband could help drive away.

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The woman, who works at a hospital in Gävleborg, asked one patient who had been in an accident whether she had been in contact with witches, and suggested they may have put a curse on her.

She is also said to have invited patients to seek help at her husband’s house where they could receive spiritual treatment, and claimed he could cleanse homes of spirits.

Local paper Gefle Dagblad reports that the woman already had several conversations with a workplace counselor who told her to keep her religious beliefs separate from her job prior to the criticism from inspectors.

The inspectorate criticized the nurse for risking the safety of patients who were suffering from psychological and psychiatric problems. She accepted that she and her husband had been in the wrong as the patients were especially vulnerable.

Though Sweden is a largely secular nation, a 2015 survey showed that the number of people in the country who believe in ghosts is actually increasing at the same time as belief in god decreases.

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