The Hague, Netherlands — A Dutch nurse was sentenced to life in prison today for murdering four of her patients and trying to kill three others with high doses of drugs.
The nurse, Lucy de Berk, 41, was pale and still as she heard the verdict and the sentence that ended one of most unusual murder trials in the Netherlands' recent history.
“The victims were sick and defenseless babies, children and elderly people who were entrusted to the accused's nursing care and who depended on her entirely for their life and welfare,” presiding judge Jeanne Kalk told a packed Hague courtroom. “The accused went about her work methodically and cunningly so that the chance of her crimes being detected was slim.”
De Berk's victims, the court said, were three children and an elderly woman in her care at different hospitals in The Hague. She “administered substances and/or conducted treatments that caused the victim to stop breathing suddenly and die,” the verdict said.
The nurse, who had insisted she was innocent and wanted only to do good, had been charged with killing 13 patients altogether. But the judges ruled that nine cases had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
The children de Berk was accused of killing had serious physical abnormalities and the elderly woman was gravely ill. However, one baby girl died at just five months old. Though born with a heart defect, she was not seriously ill when she came into De Berk's care and had been expected to go home from hospital soon.
The case had drawn much attention in the Netherlands, the first country where assisted suicide has been legalized under certain conditions.
de Berk's victims all died sudden and inexplicable deaths while she was responsible for their medication, the court found. Statisticians told the trial the chance of a nurse being present coincidentally at so many such deaths was one in 342 million.
One of the more unusual pieces of evidence presented was a diary with mysterious entries about her one great secret. One entry said: “Today I gave in to my compulsion. Still, I'm making many people happy. Very strange!”
Prosecutors said the entries coincided with the death of a victim. de Berk claims her “compulsion” referred to her love for laying out Tarot cards, a form of fortune telling, for her patients. It was secret she said because it was not allowed in a hospital.
de Berk intends to appeal the verdict, her lawyer said.
(This article courtesy of Steven Ertelt and the Pro-Life Infonet email newsletter. For more information or to subscribe go to www.prolifeinfo.org or email [email protected].)
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Pro-Life Wisconsin Rejects Sherman Clone and Kill Bill; Urges State Legislature to Do the Same
