A nurse in the Netherlands admitted to colleagues that he had killed at least 20 coronavirus patients, the public prosecution department said Thursday.
Theodoor V, 30, was said to have been concerned about the suffering of his victims while working as a pulmonary nurse at the Wilhelmina Hospital in Assen.
V was arrested three weeks ago at his home in Veenhuizen after confessing to staff while being treated at a mental health clinic in nearby Drenthe.
Prosecutors said he had indicated ‘several times’ in his conversations with mental health staff that ‘as a pulmonary nurse in the WZA, he had prematurely ended the lives of 20 patients during the coronavirus pandemic’.
‘The suspect allegedly performed medical procedures on patients who, in his view, were terminal and suffering, without instructions from a doctor.
‘His statements were taken so seriously by the healthcare organisation that they decided, after extensive collegial deliberation and obtaining both internal and external legal advice, to break the confidentiality obligation and to report it to the WZA.’