The nurse was arrested Monday on three counts of attempted murder. (Representative)
Berlin:
German police said on Wednesday they arrested a nurse for allegedly trying to overdose at least three patients in her care.
Police and prosecutors told reporters the 24-year-old suspect attempted to play the savior by bringing patients to the brink of death before reviving them.
The case is reminiscent of that of Niels Hoegel, a German nurse sentenced to life in prison last year for the murder of 85 patients.
Authorities received advice on Sunday from a doctor at the Munich hospital where the suspect had worked since July, and said they were now investigating all potentially suspicious cases under his supervision.
The nurse, who has not been identified by police, was arrested Monday on three counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm – allegations he denies.
Prosecutor Anne Leiding told reporters his online discussions indicated he had “endangered the lives of patients just so he could later be seen as the brilliant savior.”
Drug not specified
The nurse worked in a ward for patients recently released from intensive care and still under close medical supervision.
In two of the cases in question, the condition of a 91-year-old patient and a 54-year-old woman in treatment suddenly worsened on Saturday.
They could only be revived with emergency measures, Josef Wimmer, head of the Munich police murder division, told a press conference.
A doctor became suspicious and ordered blood tests, which revealed high levels of an unspecified drug that had not been prescribed for them.
The same doctor then identified another questionable case, a 90-year-old patient late last month, and a blood test gave similar results, Wimmer said.
The three victims were in the custody of the suspect. One is still in critical but stable condition, while the other two have recovered.
Germany was shocked by revelations that Hoegel, considered to be the most prolific serial killer in the country, murdered patients with lethal injections between 2000 and 2005, before finally being caught red-handed.
In October, a Polish health worker was sentenced to life in prison in Munich for killing at least three people with insulin.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
