Nurse Allegedly Kills Patient & Takes Selfie with Corpse

A 42-year-old nurse was arrested after being accused of killing at least 38 patients. She apparently found the patients "annoying," which was why she had killed them. Daniela Poggiali was arrested in Lugo, a town in northern Italy. She is suspected to be responsible for the death of Rosa Calderoni, a 78-year-old patient, who had been killed from a potassium chloride injection. While police suspect Poggiali to be the one poisoning the patient, officers found a selfie where the Italian nurse was giving a thumbs-up with a patient moments after he had died. Italian news agency Corriere della Sera reported that "the smiling blonde nurse" had also been suspected for the death of Faustino Taglioni.

Potassium chloride apparently leaves no trace after a couple of days. After that, it becomes quite difficult to investigate the reason of death. It is suspected that the nurse was responsible for several other patients including Giorgina Errani and Oriana Clique. The death of those couple of patients is also suspected not to be entirely natural. A confidential report to the Health Services revealed that there were uncanny coincidences between Poggiali's shifts and the deaths.

According to co-workers, Poggiali is a "cold, polished" person. They also said that she used to sedate patients whom she had found to be "troublesome." The Independent reported that Poggiali was arrested after Calderoni, the 78-year-old deceased patient, had been found to have "dangerous levels of potassium in her system." The nurse, on the other hand, denied having any involvement with the frequent deaths at the hospital. However, it is suspected that she used to get frustrated with patients who required additional care. She apparently did not like to deal with "pushy relatives" of the patients as well.

One of Poggiali's colleagues said that the nurse said that she would "quieten" any "difficult" patient. "Leave it to me," the nurse said. Chief Prosecutor Alessandro Mancini was apparently shocked to see the nurse taking a smiling selfie with the lifeless body of a patient. "In all my professional years of seeing shocking photos, there have been few like these," he said.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au