A nurse in Cordoba, Argentina has been arrested in connection with the deaths of at least two healthy babies born at a hospital.
Brenda Aguero, 27, was detained on Friday at the behest of prosecutor Raul Carson, who is investigating the deaths of five babies at a newborn maternity hospital in Córdoba, 700 kilometers northwest of Buenos Aires.
Carson told local media that the nurse has been charged with killing two of the children, while the medical records of the other three are pending review. “The children died because a substance found in their bodies was incompatible with life,” Carson said, adding that excess potassium was found.
Also, eight new-born children fell ill but did not die, the lawyer said. Research suggests that stillborn babies are born healthier, as is the health of mothers during childbirth.
The deaths took place between March and June, but the case came to light only after the deceased child’s grandmother lodged a complaint on June 6.
The nurse was one of nine suspended this month after an investigation began to determine whether the deaths were homicide, negligence or medical malpractice.
“As a family, we are devastated,” Raul Aragon, the father of one of the dead children, told a Córdoba radio station. “We were trying to get over the grief of a natural death and now they took our son from us – we knew they killed him.”
