Rotterdam nurse gets 20 years, treatment for five insulin killings

The court in Rotterdam sentenced Rahiied A. to 20 years in prison and institutionalized psychiatric treatment for killing five patients by giving them overdoses of insulin. In four cases the court convicted the Rotterdam nurse of murder, saying that there is enough evidence to prove he killed these women by administering insulin without medical necessity. In one case he was convicted of manslaughter. The 23-year-old man is also banned from practicing as a nurse for 25 years, NOS reports.

A. also gave seven other women insulin, sometimes multiple times, according to the broadcaster. One of them later died, the others survived. None but one of these women had diabetes. All of A.'s victims lived in four nursing homes in the Rotterdam regions. The incidents happened between September 2016 and November 2017. A. confessed to three of the murders, but claimed the fourth was a mistake.

The court stressed that A.'s actions caused great social unrest, because he undermined confidence in healthcare. His actions also had major consequences for the families of the victims and for his colleagues, the court said.

The investigation against A. was launched in the autumn of 2017, after it was noticed that patients in his care regularly became unwell for no clear reason. The patients in his care were elderly, suffered from dementia, and were dependent on others. Because of their dementia, they could not defend themselves against A. and could not tell others what happened to them. 

A.'s own explanation for his actions was that he wanted to prove that he could act well enough to be a doctor, something longed to be. He desperately wanted confirmation and compliments, he said, according to the broadcaster.