Relatives try to force prosecution of nurse accused of mercy-killing Covid patients

Loved ones of coronavirus patients who died in the Wilhelmina Hospital in Assen have filed an Article 12 procedure, asking the court to force the Public Prosecution Service (OM) to prosecute Theodoor V. The former nurse allegedly told colleagues that he mercy-killed up to 20 Covid-19 patients at the Assen hospital, but the OM had to drop the case against him due to a lack of evidence.

The court in Leeuwarden confirmed to RTV Drenthe that an Article 12 procedure had been filed against the man. With this procedure, victims or surviving loved ones can try to force the OM to reopen a case that has been dropped.

The police arrested V. in April 2023 after the hospital filed a report against him. Based on statements the man had allegedly made to colleagues, OM suspected the Veenhuizen man of involvement in the deaths of around 20 patients in the Wilhelmina Hospital’s lung department during the height of the pandemic between March 2020 and May 2022. According to the OM, the man had told several colleagues that he had prematurely ended these patients' lives because he thought they were terminal and suffering unbearably.

But despite intensive investigation, the police could find no concrete evidence that V. had actually played a role in these patients’ deaths. The OM therefore dropped the case in April 2024.

The court will now reconsider the OM’s decision to drop the case, looking into whether there is potentially enough evidence to prosecute. If the court rules in the loved ones’ favor, the OM will have to conduct further investigation and bring V. to court.

The authorities faced several setbacks in the initial investigation against V. The courts denied the OM access to the suspect’s medical files and reports of confidential conversations between V. and his GP’s assistant. A successful Article 12 procedure could force the OM to retry these avenues of investigation or try to find new ones.