One of the stories making the news here in Italy is the arrest of Daniela Poggiali, 42, a nurse who is accused of killing at least 38 of her patients because she found them or their relatives to be annoying. She was initially charged in the death of an elderly patient and now police believe that she is a serial killer.
The case of Rosa Calderoni draw attention of the authorities because she been admitted for a routine illness and when she died there were high levels of potassium in her bloodstream. At least 10 other deaths are now being listed as “very suspicious”.
Prosecutor Rossella Materia called her a sadist who “who draws pleasure in provoking the death of the patients in her care.” One picture on her phone reportedly shows her giving a thumbs up next to when of her patients who had died seconds before. The public statements are an interesting dimension since Italy prosecutes people for criminal libel, as in the abusive case against the parents of Amanda Knox that we discussed earlier. While comments against the police can bring a charge, it clearly does not apply when prosecutors make such comments against individuals.
Even a colleague described her as a “cold person who was always eager to work.” This included the allegation from a co-worker that Poggiali would give patients strong laxatives at the end of her shift to make work more difficult for the nurses taking over.
Poggiali told police that she is innocent and the victim of a conspiracy by her enemies.
The case could prove very difficult given the length of time that has passed.
Source: MSN
“Don’t like me pounding home the truth about nurses unions and the fact that nurses need them?”
WT heck are you talking about? I just said the nurses union is doing what it is supposed to do which is to protect its members? Good for them.
Can you not read?
Karen and DBQ,
I commend you for the effort but I believe the civility rule, like the constitution, is not much of a barrier to anyone that hasn’t internalized the principles behind it. I expect these behaviors and simply consider the source.
Karen, your double standard petty coat has slipped.
DBQ, you don’t really have any standing in determining what is germaine to a discussion about nurses, their safety, Ebola, and the necessity of nurses unions. Don’t like me pounding home the truth about nurses unions and the fact that nurses need them? Too darn bad. I’m going to keep bringing up nurses unions over and over and over again.
Annie – as an MSN you should also be able to tell us why a hospital would be so stupid as to let an infectious or potentially infectious patient lie around for several hours. The head nurse probably has an MSN, she should know better than this, even the ward supervisor would have a better handle on it and is a BS/RN. Basically, the nurses’ union, although now protecting the nurses, did nothing to make sure the patients were protected. Sounds like a union to me. Pound that union drum, Annie. Pound it hard.
Paul – I don’t know about their policing skills, but the carabinieri are big flirts.
Annie – unless I’ve missed something, I don’t get your comment about the unions. I saw Nick’s initial post about he actually agrees with the nurse’s unions actions in this situation.
You called him a d^&&*k yesterday. Where were you with the whole “reptilian minds” thing? What’s your point? One way for thee, another for me?
How about if we all get our act together and try to make this about the issues, and not personal attacks, such as those “reptilian” conservatives. One is to recall that religious humanitarian organizations are over there fighting Ebola alongside Doctors Without Borders.
Seriously. Is it even possible to complain about how Obama handles anything without that being used as an excuse for personal attacks?
Wilson responsible for 600,000 flu deaths. THIS from a history teacher! No wonder he left the profession.
Paul,
Point taken and we could take a lesson from that failure to see the obvious.
@ Annie.
People have already commended the nurses union for stepping up and looking out for its members safety and job conditions. This is what a union is supposed to do and good for them. There are other things that some other unions do that I object to but those are immaterial to the topic at hand and have nothing to do with this discussion. However, to turn this potential catastrophe, as it already is in Africa and his likely to become here, into an ideological tit for tat and digressing into all sorts of wild hare pathways such as rape……is not productive.
“He made us all take swine flu shots with the same form of panic driven rhetoric. Older people died.”
It was not mandatory to take a flu shot. Don’t exaggerate. I didn’t have a flu shot in that time and have never had one. I don’t think I’ve ever had the flu.
It was not mandatory. It was highly recommended and doctors may have persuaded people to take a flu shot, but you weren’t lined up and forced to do so. I remember being lined up to be vaccinated for smallpox. Lined up and given the polio vaccine. Two of my classmates caught polio. One died. I was in 2nd grade. My grandfather died of TB when I was a small child and I still remember the TB hospital where he and many other sad withered men were in wheelchairs with blankets on their laps. TB was a scourge of the poor especially and my Grandfather was exceedingly poor. For quite some time after that we were tested for TB with the serum being injected under our skin to see if it would ‘bubble’ up and if we had caught the disease. I was 5 years old.
If you haven’t been around or seen these types of illnesses or have seen the grinding poverty that other people live in. …..and you are so young and protected in this country that you can’t imagine it…..you need to consider that our protected lives in the United States are a dream that people in Africa and elsewhere can do just that ….only dream.
Here’s the deal. Polio, TB, Smallpox, Ebola….they don’t care if you are a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Pastafarian. In this…we all are equal.
Why did New Jersey get all the toxic waste and California all the attorneys?
New Jersey got to pick first.
If I recall correctly, it was mespo who said that conservatives should do us all a favor and leave the planet, once I identified myself as a fiscal conservative.
Yep, the intellectual tone of the blog has indeed gone downhill.
mespo:
“In the reptilian mind that is the conservative psyche”
And yet, you recently bragged about writing the civility rules.
It’s disgusting to label almost half the American population this way. I may think that Liberal politicians don’t own a calculator, but I’ve known many kind-hearted Liberals. I’d never think half the country is bad, stupid, or inhuman merely because of their political affiliation.
This is an example of what is wrong with the Internet.
Here’s a great book recommendation for this blog. We need less Stripes and more Hunters.
http://www.lmelliott.com/about_bestfriend.php
What’s the difference between an attorney and a prostitute?
An prostitute stops screwing you when you’re dead.
What does an attorney get when you give him Viagra?
Taller
Olly, The Italians have a horrible healthcare system and a worst police/court system. They’re all about the arts and food.
What do you throw a drowning attorney?
His partners.
Mespo, I call him a bully.
Speaking of protocol; 38 patients later, the Italians are likely reviewing where they dropped the ball.
Paul, Former clients and ex wives!
Oh let’s just talk baseball. It’s better than focusing on nurses unions, the first ones to speak out in defense of the first nurse Ebola victim and the first to expose the hospitals pathetic response to the first Ebola victim, which caused that nurse and another to get Ebola. No don’t speak of the real advocates for nurses and patients, “Shut up now!’ he snarls, with insults and slurs about drunk people. Nice…where is Karen? Karen do you think what Nick said was civil and called for?