42-Year-Old Nurse Accused of Killing 38 Patients Because She Found Them "Annoying"
Last weekend, an Italian nurse Daniela Poggiali was arrested for allegedly killing up to 38 patients because she found them and their relatives "annoying".
By Sadho Ram — 15 Oct 2014, 11:17 AM — Updated about 10 years ago
This is Daniela Poggiali, a 42-year-old nurse who is suspected of killing as many as 38 patients because she found them or their relatives annoying, according to several media reports.
She was working in a northeastern Italian hospital. Currently, she is under arrest as part of an investigation into the deaths of 38 patients who, cops said, she may have injected with potassium chloride.
In this photo taken on Monday, Oct. 13, 2014, Daniela Poggiali is escorted by a police officer as she arrives to court in Ravenna, Italy.
Image via Giampiero Corelli/AP PhotoPolice believe Daniela Poggiali, who worked at a Lugo hospital, killed her victims with hefty doses of potassium chloride and then snapped photos with some of the bodies, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported.
nydailynews.comPoggiali was taken into custody over the weekend in Lugo, northern Italy, after a 78-year-old patient died while being treated for a routine illness, the Daily Mail reported at its website. Tests showed the woman died with a high amount of potassium in her system, which can provoke cardiac arrest, according to Central European News.
msn.comAccording to BuzzFeed, after arresting Poggiali, police reportedly found a selfie of the 42-year-old nurse giving a thumbs-up with a recently deceased patient
Coworkers suspected Poggiali, because patients would suddenly worsen and die during her shift
They described her as a "cold, polished" person who sometimes sedated patients who bothered her during her shift. They also suspected she gave patients laxatives to embarrass the colleagues who worked after her. "We wondered whether these deaths could be so frequent without anyone doing anything," a coworker told Corriere della Sera.
gawker.com
Poggiali has denied any wrongdoing but police suspect the nurse became frustrated with patients who needed extra care or had pushy relatives
When their demands got on her nerves, she silenced patients with lethal doses of poison, according to investigators. The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera quoted one of Ms Poggiali’s colleagues as saying that in the case of difficult patients, the suspect would say: “Leave it to me, I’ll quieten them.”