Ex-nurse acquitted of murder on appeal (3)

(ANSA) - Bologna, July 7 - A Bologna appeals court on Friday overturned the conviction of former nurse Daniela Poggiali for killing a 78-year-old patient at Lugo near Ravenna in northeastern Italy. A lower court found Poggiali, 45, guilty of giving the woman a lethal dose of potassium, and handed down a life sentence. The appeals court said Poggiali did not commit the crime and ordered her to be freed immediately.
    She had been in custody since October 2014, when she was arrested in connection with 11 other suspicious deaths at the hospital in Lugo, having already been placed under investigation for the sudden death of the 78-year-old woman on April 8.
    The latter patient had entered the hospital with a minor ailment and died suddenly with suspiciously high blood levels of potassium, which can provoke cardiac arrest.
    It can also be difficult to trace because it disappears from the body just hours after death.
    That case triggered suspicions and led authorities to comb through data from other deaths that occurred when Poggiali was working, leading them to open investigations into 38 deaths.
    Police said they suspect the accused became frustrated with patients that needed extra care or had pushy relatives.
    Poggiali still faces possible criminal action over the other deaths.