An Italian nurse, Daniela Poggiali, was arrested Friday on murder charges. According to the report release by Italian newspaper Corriere di Bologna 'the 42-year-old nurse caught the attention of authorities thus prompting them to conduct further investigation after the unexpected death of 78-year-old Rosa Calderoni'.
Officials believe that while Calderoni was admitted to a hospital in the town of Lugo with a diabetes-related ailment, her cause of death was due to a fatal injection of potassium chloride. Calderoni’s death allegedly occurred while Poggiali was on duty.
Prosecutors say that their investigation is more difficult because potassium chloride fades from the bloodstream within a couple days, making it hard to detect.
In a press conference, authorities revealed they had widened their probe to include 38 more deaths which occurred under the nurse's watch, including 10 which have been described as 'very suspicious'.
A report by the Central European news agency said she was accused of giving her patients high doses of potassium. Authorities now suspect that Poggiali may have killed them all because she thought they or their families were irritating or annoying.
In the course of investigation, police confiscated the nurse’s cellphone and found out that her mobile phone included a photo or ‘selfies’ of her making the thumbs-up sign next to a patient’s corpse, which may be included as additional charges on her part for disrespecting the dead.
A staff member of the hospital said Poggiali requested to have her photo taken next to a patient who had just died.
Another hospital staff reportedly accused the 42-year-old nurse of ‘joking’ about giving a high dose of potassium to a seriously ill patient.
Poggiali has denied the crimes raised against her, 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 allegedly silenced patients with lethal doses of poison, according to investigators.
