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German nurse accused of poisoning premature babies

German police and prosecutors are questioning a nurse accused of poisoning five premature babies with morphine at a hospital, reports CNN. Five premature babies at the University Hospital of Ulm in southern Germany between the ages of one day and one month suddenly began experiencing life-threatening breathing difficulties on the morning of December 20 last year, authorities said in a statement.

The suspect was on duty at the hospital that morning and was taken into custody. The nurse is being investigated for five counts of attempted manslaughter and grievous bodily harm. All the babies survived and police said they were not expecting further health problems.

Christof Lehr, Ulm's chief public prosecutor, said that the nurse denies having given the babies morphine. Hospital authorities first suspected an infection, but urine tests disproved that theory, while at the same time revealing traces of morphine in all five infants – even though two had not been prescribed the drug.

The report says morphine is routinely stocked at neonatal departments to treat the withdrawal symptoms of babies born to mothers who are addicted.

[link url="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/01/30/europe/germany-nurse-babies-morphine-intl-grm/index.html"]Full CNN report[/link]

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