The news that a nurse has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the death of patients has hit his colleagues in Drenthe hard. The employees of the Wilhelmina Hospital Assen (WZA) were informed last night.
“It was a very emotional meeting,” says Hans Mulder of the board of directors. “There were tears, sadness, anger and disbelief. I have that myself, you think: this can’t be true.”
The 30-year-old nurse who was arrested on Monday will remain in custody for at least two weeks. The examining magistrate has determined this this afternoon, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said. The investigation against him is in full swing and the Public Prosecution Service cannot yet say what exactly he is suspected of, or how many possible victims there are.
Oppressive feeling
The man from the municipality of Noordenveld has been working at the WZA since October 2019. He worked in the department for covid patients during the corona crisis. Although it is still unclear to what extent the suspect was involved in the death of several patients, it gives colleagues an oppressive feeling.
Mulder: “Some think: did I not do it right? or should I have seen something?, while they have worked very hard there all this time and deserve a statue for it. It is very difficult for them that this is now over them comes.”
The investigation into the 30-year-old was initiated after a report to the board of directors. “That was a report from outside the hospital,” Mulder explains. The man was subsequently suspended.
Belief in relatives
Relatives tell RTL Nieuws that they are in shock because of the arrest. It concerns the son and wife of a 72-year-old patient of the WZA who died in April. He says that his mother received a call from the police yesterday.
“They didn’t ask my mother – a 72-year-old widow – to sit down, if she was with someone. No, they suddenly told me that someone had been arrested on suspicion of possible involvement in the death of her husband. My mother didn’t know what she was hearing.”
The woman calls it “utter madness” that such a sensitive message was conveyed by telephone. After repeated requests, family detectives came by, the news site reports.
YouTube video
The arrested nurse was shown on a YouTube video, which the hospital has since removed. In the video from March 2020, he and other colleagues can be seen in the department for corona patients.
Fully wrapped in protective clothing, the nurses did their job. The suspect said in the video that he was given a break every two to three hours to catch his breath.
Before his work in the WZA, he was a nurse at two other hospitals. When asked, both healthcare institutions said that they are not yet involved in the police investigation.
- Drenthe nurse arrested for involvement in patient death
