CHIBA ¨C Police arrested a former nurse for allegedly killing an inpatient at a hospital in Chiba Prefecture in January by mixing excrement into his IV drip.
On Wednesday, the Chiba Prefectural Police apprehended Miyuki Furukawa, 51, from the city of Kashiwa in the prefecture. The suspect has denied the allegations against her, investigative sources said.
Furukawa is suspected of mixing excrement into the extension tube of an IV drip for Eiji Aita, 75, at Kashiwa Tanaka Hospital in the city at around 3:55 a.m. on Jan. 30, when she was working on the night shift, thereby killing the inpatient the following day after he experienced multiple organ failure resulting from sepsis.
Around 4 a.m. on Jan. 30, an assistant nurse on the night shift found Aita in an abnormal condition with a pale face and shallow breathing. Treatment was given to Aita, but he died at around 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 31. Aita was from the city of Toride in Ibaraki Prefecture, next to Chiba.
A brown-colored foreign object was discovered in the IV tube, according to the police. Intestinal bacteria were detected as a result of an examination, and the same bacteria was found in Aita¡¯s blood.
On Feb. 1, an official of the hospital visited the Kashiwa police station and reported that ¡°there is a possibility that a foreign object was mixed into an intravenous drip for an inpatient whose condition suddenly deteriorated.¡±
At the time, two nurses, including Furukawa, were in charge of patients on the floor where Aita was. The police identified Furukawa as a suspect partly based on footage from a security camera installed at the hospital.
Furukawa quit the hospital in late February.
The Chiba police will investigate details including Furukawa¡¯s potential motive and how she might have obtained the excrement used in the alleged murder.
¡°We will fully cooperate with the investigation,¡°?Aoikai, the medical corporation that runs Kashiwa Tanaka Hospital, said in a statement on its website.?¡°Keeping in mind again our mission to protect lives and health, we will work to prevent a recurrence.¡±
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