In this Feb. 19,
2013 photo, Virginia Soares de Souza, center, is escorted by police
officers to a temporary prison in Curitiba, Parana state, Brazil.
(AP Photo/Henry
Milleo, Gazeta do Povo,
Posted Mar 28, 2013 4:52 AM CDT
(Newser)
–
A
Brazilian intensive care unit doctor has been charged in the murders of
seven patients as a means to free up hospital beds—and now,
investigators say she may have been involved in up to 300 deaths.
Dr.
Virginia Soares de Souza has so far been charged with seven counts of
aggravated first degree murder; seven members of her team also face
murder charges, Reuters
reports. According to prosecutors, the health workers used muscle
relaxants on patients before cutting their oxygen to asphyxiate them.
Investigators are currently reviewing some 1,700 medical records
belonging to patients who've died in the past seven years.
"We already
have more than 20 cases established, and there are nearly 300 more that
we are looking into," says the chief investigator.
That figure would put
de Souza among the deadliest known serial killers. The prosecutors
point to wiretaps of de Souza's phone as evidence of her motive.
"I want
to clear the intensive care unit. It's making me itch," she says in a
recording. "Unfortunately, our mission is to be go-betweens on the
springboard to the next life." Her lawyer says she's not guilty and that
investigators are confused about how the ICU functions.
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