Nurse Irene Becker – who tended to seriously ill patients in the cardiology ward of Charité hospital in Berlin, Europe’s biggest university hospital – liked to play God. Many of her patients had, even with the best of care, not long to live. But with the kind of care Becker offered to her chosen targets their days were ended abruptly, according to Becker’s whim.
The nurse’s boss and coworkers, even though they knew she
abused patients and that suspicious deaths occurred when she was around, let
her get away with it. But with the worst of care, the sort provided by Nurse
Becker, their days were cut short abruptly. Following the investigation of 15
deaths of patients associated with Becker, Hospital Director Gert Baumann “came
in for manifold criticism throughout the trial for failing to raise the alarm
earlier.”
At the murder trial Presiding Judge Gert Faust harshly
criticized the hospital governors and nurses for failing to report abuse and
irregularities surrounding Becker’s patients. Her method was to inject her
victims with an overdose of antihypertensive or sedative drugs that she would
administer even while physicians were busy with efforts to revive the patient.
Becker was tried in April 2007 for the murder of six people
and the attempted murder of two others between June 2005 and October 2006. Her
motive was unclear. Becker eventually confessed that she killed four patients
and asserted she did so out of sympathy, only wanting to relieve pain. “I acted
in the interests of my patients,” she testified early in the trial. “I acted
according to their wishes.”
The court found this explanation implausible and rejected
the notion that patients requested to be euthanized by her. “State prosecutor
Thorsten Neudeck alleged the nurse had given one male patient a lethal
injection in 2005 simply because she was angry that he would not calm down.” In
another case, the husband was in the room when Becker gave his wife the deadly
injection. He testified that if he had known what was in store for his wife he
would have slapped the nurse’s hand away.”
Becker, 54, was
convicted of five murders on June 29, 2007 and sentenced to life in prison.
***
Charité (hospital), Berlin.
Brigitte Raddatz - prosecutor.
Pater Faust, Chairman of Superior Court 22 (Vorsitzende der
22. Großen Strafkammer).
***
Jun. 2005 - Oct. 2006 – murders, in the cardiology ward of
Berlin’s Charité hospital.
Oct. 4, 2006 – “The clinic had turned the criminal police on
4 October 2006 after suspicions. Since then, the woman is in custody.”
Apr. 2007 – When she went on trial in April, she admitted to
four killings, and her lawyer argued that they were the lesser crime of
manslaughter.
Jun. 29, 2007 – 54 year-old Irene Becker sentenced; been
jailed for life for murdering five patients.
***
[“Urteil im Charité-Prozess: Lebenslange Haft für
Todes-Schwester,” Stern (Germany), Jun. 29, 2007]
[“German Nurse Sentenced to Life for Killing Patients,” DW
(English) (Germany), Jun. 29, 2006]
[The Associated Press, “German Nurse Convicted of Murders,”
The Washington Post (D.D.), Jun. 29,
2007]
[1372-1/16/21]
***
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