Prosecutors drop case against nurse suspected of murdering dozens of Covid patients
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) is dropping the case against Theodoor V., a former nurse at the Wilhelmina Hospital in Assen suspected of killing around 20 patients during the Covid-19 pandemic. The extensive criminal investigation did not provide enough evidence to establish that the man committed criminal offenses, the OM said. “The OM will not submit the case to the court, and the nurse is no longer a suspect.”
V. was arrested in April 2023 after the hospital filed a report with the authorities. The 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.
Prosecutors had based their accusations on a letter claiming the nurse spoke with several colleagues where he claimed “that he had prematurely ended the lives of about 20 who he thought were terminal and seriously suffering patients.” It was suggested the nurse did this by shutting down ventilators or bypassing a doctor and making the decision to administer higher doses of morphine without approval.
“The information was so serious and concrete that an extensive investigation was started,” the OM said. The “complex” study found that he made very specific statements about his involvement numerous times but never mentioned any specific patients.
“This involved an investigation into unknown, possible victims who had also been deceased for some time. In addition, regulating oxygen and administering morphine are in themselves normal medical procedures.”
During the investigation, the police spoke to many witnesses, examined various data carriers, and interrogated V. multiple times. “In these interrogations, he denied the suspicions,” the OM said. The OM also asked two experts to examine the medical files of patients who died during or shortly after one of V.’s shifts. There were some setbacks in this investigation. The courts denied the OM access to the suspect’s medical files and reports of confidential conversations between V. and his GP’s assistant.
“No concrete facts and circumstances emerged that confirm the nurse’s statements about his actions during the coronavirus pandemic. According to the law, a conviction can never be based solely on someone’s own statements,” the OM said. The prosecutors, therefore, decided to drop the case. V. is no longer a suspect.
“The police and OM realize that the investigation has had a major impact on the surviving relatives. Though for some of them, not all uncertainty can be removed, the public prosecutors emphasize that none of the deaths investigated had concrete indications of criminal conduct by the nurse,” the OM said.