Brazilian doctor accused of killing nearly 300 patients to free up hospital beds
A doctor in Brazil who recently appeared in court for allegedly killing seven patients is now being accused of being responsible for the deaths of nearly 300. Multiple reports suggest that doctor, along with a few other accomplices, administered lethal doses of drugs to the patients in order to free up beds at a hospital in the city of Curitiba.
According to police, Doctor Virginia Helena Soares de Souza enlisted a group of doctors to help kill off the patients with lethal doses of anesthetics, sedatives and painkillers, and killed others by altering oxygen levels which led to death by asphyxiation. Prosecutors claim that de Souza’s goal in the massacre was to free up beds in the ICU and clear up the “clutter” the patients were causing.
Between 2006 and 2013, de Souza allegedly ordered other professionals working under her to alter medication and oxygen levels.
Investigators have set the death toll at 300 but say that the number could get much higher. They are currently analyzing medical charts of more than 1,700 patients and interviewing more doctors.
De Souza was arrested last month but was released until trial. She is now appearing in court monthly in order to avoid going back to jail. Her lawyer, Elias Mattar Assad, says she will prove that de Souza’s orders in the ICU were backed and justified by medical literature.
In addition to de Souza, seven other professionals are being charged in the case. De Souza plead not guilty on Wednesday. There’s no word on a trial date as of yet.
