DISGRUNTLED nurses have reached a compromise deal with hospital chiefs over their dispute with a controversial surgeon.

Three weeks ago the revealed that 22 of 24 operating room nurses at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital had voted to stop working with American plastic surgeon Christopher Johnson whenever he used the hospital facilities.

The nurses cited numerous incidents of what they labelled unprofessional conduct by Dr. Johnson as reason for the walkout.

It is now understood that the nurses have agreed to assist Dr. Johnson in the operating theatre ? on the condition that strong disciplinary action will be taken against the physician should he commit any offence.

One source close to the dispute said management had agreed to withdraw Dr. Johnson's medical privileges ? effectively barring him from operating at the hospital ? should they receive any further complaints about him.

Yesterday a spokeswoman for the Bermuda Hospitals Board declined to comment on the matter, saying that staffing issues involving individual personnel were confidential.

"Bermuda Hospitals Board has a duty of confidentiality to its entire staff, which means we are unable to comment publicly on individuals," the spokeswoman said.

Dr. Johnson, who came to Bermuda from California two years ago, hit the headlines last month after it was revealed that he had married a Bermudian ? despite earlier acknowledging in a US court that he was openly gay.

The wedding took place shortly before the physician's two-year contract with the Elan Clinic expired. Dr. Johnson has since opened his own practice offering a range of cosmetic surgery services.

And in a subsequent story, the reported that Dr. Johnson's career in the US had been "destroyed" after he was dismissed from a hospital in California. Dr. Johnson's privileges were withdrawn from that hospital after authorities received a shopping list of complaints about his conduct from staff.

The majority of complaints were later upheld and, as a result, Dr. Johnson was placed on the US National Practitioner Data Bank, an alert, or flagging system intended to facilitate a comprehensive review of health care practitioners' professional credentials.