Murder charges were filed against two male nurses Sunday and a female nurse was charged with covering up a crime in a case involving more than a dozen deaths at two Uruguayan hospitals, judicial officials said.
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The judge overseeing the case said there was no indication the two male nurses were acting together.
Judge Rolando Vomero said after a court hearing that the accused admitted to causing a total of 16 deaths of patients, but added that the investigation continued and the number was not final.
He said most of the apparent victims “were not terminally ill.” He said they were injected with overdoses of morphine or aid to “cause death within minutes.”
Vomero said one male nurse who worked at both hospitals admitted being involved in five induced deaths, and the other to 11 deaths in one hospital.
The judge said that from the evidence gathered so far, it “does not appear that there were any connections” between the two nurses “even though they both worked at the same place.”
No further information was released on the three accused nurses because none had a criminal record.
Lawyer Ines Massioti, representing one of the nurses charged with “especially aggravated murder,” told reporters that the judge had ruled the suspects could be held in jail while the investigation proceeds.
Massioti said her client acted “out of pity.”
“After 20 years of working in intensive care, with stress and in contact with death, he could not stand it anymore,” the lawyer said.
Earlier in the day, police inspector Jose Luis Roldan said officials were investigating suspicions that some hospital workers had given poison to patients who were in critical condition at the two hospitals.
Roldan said the allegations center on the private Sociedad Espanola hospital and the public Maciel Hospital. Officials at both declined to comment.
The South American country’s Public Health Ministry issued a statement saying it was cooperating with the investigation into “presumed criminal acts linked to the health area.” It gave no details about the allegations, but said it was conducting its own investigation and expressed “profound concern.” (AP)
<관련 한글 기사>
안락사인가 살인인가? 16명 ‘죽인’ 간호사
우루과이에서 중환자 16명의 죽음을 유도한 남성 간호사 두 명이 살인혐의로 18일 (현지시간) 기소되었다고 AP통신이 보도했다.
또 이 사실을 숨기려 한 혐의로 여성 간호사가 한 명 기소되었다.
현지 법정의 롤란도 보메로 판사는 사망한 환자들이 불치병을 앓고 있는 상태는 아니며, 간호사들이 진통효과를 갖고 있는 모르핀이나 다른 약물을 투여하여 환자들이 “수 분만에 죽음에 이를 수 있도록” 했다고 말했다.
혐의를 받고 있는 간호사 중 한 명은 두 병원에서 일하면서 5명의 죽음에 관여했고, 다른 한 명은 한 병원에서 11명의 죽음을 유도했다.
보메로 판사는 두 사람이 같은 곳에서 근무하긴 했으나 현재까지 입수된 증거들로 봐서 공범이라고 볼 수는 없다고 밝혔다.
기소된 세 명의 간호사들은 전과가 없기 때문에 그들에 대한 상세한 정보는 공개되지 않았다.
용의자 중 한 사람의 변호사인 이네스 마시오티는 수사가 진행되는 동안 법정이 용의자들이 구금상태로 있을 것을 지시했다고 전했다.
마시오티는 그의 고객이 “연민의 정” 때문에 이와 같은 일을 저질렀다고 말했다.
“20년동안 중환자실에서 일하면서 생긴 스트레스, 그리고 죽음과 계속 접하는 환경에서 그는 더 이상 버틸 수 없었습니다”라고 변호인은 말했다.
