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Source: New York Times, Reuters; March
25, 2003
Dutch Nurse Gets Life in Prison for Euthanasia
Deaths
The Hague, Netheralnds -- 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 aged just five months. 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.
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