541
submitted 11 months ago by girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to c/news@lemmy.world

Inside sources within Asante have since disclosed details surrounding the reported deaths, per NBC5 News. It is alleged that up to 10 patients died of infections contracted at the hospital.

The sources claim the infections were caused by a nurse who purportedly substituted medication with tap water.

It is alleged that the nurse was attempting to conceal the misuse of the hospital's pain medication supply — specifically fentanyl — and intensive care unit patients were injected with tap water, causing infections that resulted in fatalities.

Medford police have confirmed their active investigation into the situation at the hospital but have refrained from providing specific details.

The sources indicate that the unsterile tap water led to pseudomonas, a dangerous infection, especially for individuals in poor health, commonly found in a hospital's ICU.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] squirrelwithnut@lemmy.world 113 points 11 months ago

So that nurse will be charged with 10 counts of murder on top of the federal drug crimes, right? ...Right?

[-] xor@sh.itjust.works 48 points 11 months ago
[-] sparky@lemmy.federate.cc 17 points 11 months ago

probably something like involuntary manslaughter as opposed to literal premeditated murder, but yes serious jail time is warranted

[-] _dev_null@lemmy.zxcvn.xyz 13 points 11 months ago

In my state I think "reckless manslaugher" might be apt:

  • You caused the death of another person; and

  • You were aware of and showed a conscious disregard of a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death.

[-] Coreidan@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Or how about first degree murder

[-] Krzd@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

Murder has to have the intent to kill someone AFAIK, this is "just" intentionally doing something that you know can (instead of will) kill someone. (it's a fine distinction)

[-] BreakDecks@lemmy.ml 5 points 11 months ago

Murder doesn't require direct intent to kill. Knowingly and/or purposefully doing something you know can kill people can result in murder charges if someone dies. Recklessness can be a factor.

A medical professional knows that injecting tap water can be fatal, so by doing so purposefully and knowingly, the act absolutely meets the definition of attempted murder, especially since this behavior was happening repeatedly at a large enough scale to cause multiple deaths. Likewise, those deaths absolutely meet the definition of murder.

And while it would be a stretch, first degree murder isn't off the table, since these actions appear very deliberately pre-planned with the intent of stealing drugs. Planning ahead of time, as a medical professional, to do things that you know can kill people, does meet the definition of premeditation.

There's also felony murder, where if someone dies in the commission of a felony, murder charges can be included with the other crime(s). Stealing drugs from a hospital is a felony, as is intentionally fraudulently injecting patients with non-medical/non-sterile liquids, though it doesn't appear that this is possible in Oregon, specifically.

[-] Coreidan@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

It would seem to me that doing something you know will kill someone is the same as intentionally killing someone. A trained nurse can’t plead ignorance in this case.

It’s really no different than pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger.

From my perspective that’s premeditated murder in the first degree.

[-] Krzd@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

That's why I highlighted between can kill and will kill. Tap water injections can kill (with a reasonably high chance of survival if caught in time with the right medical equipment at hand). (Again, IANAL/AFAIK)

[-] SnipingNinja@slrpnk.net 4 points 11 months ago

I read those two acronyms as one continuous sentence and found it hilarious (that as far as you know you're not a lawyer, but you could be)

[-] sparky@lemmy.federate.cc 2 points 11 months ago
[-] nonfuinoncuro@lemm.ee 5 points 11 months ago

I dunno, the one who did the fertility clinic at Yale just got her license back...

[-] xor@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 months ago

jesus christ, what a fucked up court system we have...
at any rate, the incredibly evil nurse from yale at least refilled them with sterile saline solution, and didn't kill 10 people... or any people...
i think that'll make a difference...

[-] CaptainProton@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yes, because then they can avoid any liability for the business as well as avoiding blame for the administrators who are guilty of 8 negligent homicides because they ignored the 8 after the second death that meant there was definitely something more than a freak accident going on

[-] Sagifurius@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

Well yeah. It's not like she's a cop

this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2023
541 points (98.0% liked)

News

23397 readers
1705 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS