Jennifer Melle called ‘N word’ and threatened by patient before she was disciplined for ‘misgendering’
A U.K. nurse who was disciplined for “misgendering” a patient and later suspended for speaking publicly about the case has been reinstated after an investigation.
At a hearing Tuesday, nurse Jennifer Melle learned her employer, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, was dropping its case against her after investigating her for an alleged “data breach” related to the incident.
She told Fox News Digital that the ordeal began when she was called in to help care for a prisoner patient whom she said was agitated and was frightening other patients on the ward.
During a clinical discussion with a doctor, Melle said that after she referred to the biological male patient as “Mr.” and “he,” the patient became angry and demanded she address him as a woman. Melle declined, saying that doing so would go against her Christian faith, but offered to use the patient’s name instead.
She said that the patient then used racial slurs and threatened her.
“Began to yell the ‘N word’ several times and lunged out … nearly headbutted me,” Melle said, adding the patient was restrained by prison guards.
Melle said the patient later calmed down and staff continued caring for the patient overnight.
“So at that point, I thought, OK, now he’s calmed down, although I’ve gone through this abuse, I just have to put on my professional hat and just have to carry on with this and finish my shift,” she said.
She was stunned the next morning when she was told the patient had filed a complaint that she had “misgendered” the patient.
“I was so shaken and shocked actually,” Melle said. Although she asked to contact her union representative, she was given a deadline to provide a statement.
“And they said, if you don’t provide a statement within 24 hours, you’re going to be suspended,” she said.
She was transferred from her department and given a written warning, according to the Christian Legal Center, who supported Melle’s case.
“It was quite traumatizing … and it was quite painful,” Melle told Fox News Digital.
“Despite being the victim, Jennifer received a first written warning in October 2024 and was referred to the [Nursing and Midwifery Council] as ‘a potential risk’ for not using the patient’s preferred identity,” The Christian Legal Center said. “The Trust didn’t apologize for the abuse she endured and continued to treat her as the offender.”
Melle’s supporters, including British lawmaker Claire Coutinho, described the patient as a transgender-identifying “convicted pedophile.” The trust has not publicly confirmed details about the patient.
After her story received widespread media attention in May 2025, Melle said she was told she was being investigated for an alleged “data breach” because she had spoken publicly about the patient’s “physical appearance, diagnosis and treatment.”
Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust said the suspension was a matter of patient privacy.
The trust said despite this alleged breach of confidentiality, they were “not aware” that the patient had been identified by anyone.
Melle was suspended with full pay while the trust investigated the incident, the trust said, and was reinstated this week.
“Following an investigation into a breach of patient confidentiality, we are pleased that a member of staff who was previously suspended on full pay is being reinstated to clinical duties,” an Epsom and St Helier Hospitals NHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Racial abuse of our staff will never be tolerated, and we are sorry that she had this experience.”\
Melle expressed her gratitude to God and all the people who have been praying for her during the investigation.
“The Lord Jesus has been my anchor and has comforted me … so I give him praise, even for this victory,” she said.
She will continue to take her case before an employment tribunal in April, alleging harassment, discrimination, victimization and breaches of her freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Her case comes as a group of female nurses in the United Kingdom celebrate a legal win in a similar case.
On Jan. 16, an employment tribunal ruled in favor of female nurses at Darlington Memorial Hospital who objected to a biological male, transgender-identifying colleague being allowed to use the women’s changing room.
The tribunal found that the NHS Trust had violated the dignity of the female nurses, who alleged they had been threatened and disciplined after speaking up about the issue.
The group of nurses had sued the County Durham and Darlington Memorial Hospital Trust in May 2024, alleging they had been harassed by the colleague, who walked around the female changing room undressed and tried to interact with female colleagues as they were dressing.
According to a report by the BBC, “The judgment said the trust’s policy had an ‘admirable and noble purpose,’ but it had the effect of ‘violating the dignity’ of the nurses and of ‘creating for them a hostile, humiliating and degrading environment.'”
Melle said the two cases showed that “sanity and common sense” were starting to return to the NHS.
“None of us should be punished for speaking the truth, for standing by our professional judgment, or for living according to our deeply held beliefs,” she said in a statement.
“I am thankful that this chapter is closing, but I remain determined that the lessons of my case, and the cases before mine, must be learned. The NHS must protect its staff, uphold fairness, and ensure that no nurse is ever again placed in an impossible position for simply doing their job with integrity.”