A Stepping Hill nurse in the United Kingdom is facing 36 charges including murder and poisoning. Victorino Chua, 39, is a nurse based in the United Kingdom and is now under hot water after police officers point him out as the mastermind in falsifying doctor's orders and maliciously altering patients' prescription charts to make colleagues give fatal doses.
Apparently, Chua denies the allegations and said that police officers made him a 'scapegoat' since they cannot really pinpoint who the mastermind behind the action is. Due to the alterations in the doses of medicines, insulin and saline drops, three patients have died and one suffered brain damages.
Chua is the prime suspect since he allegedly changed patients' prescription charts for six months in 2012. He refused to admit that he is the one who falsified the documents saying that he was made to 'carry the can' because he was on duty the night the charts were altered.
Peter Griffiths, QC, and Chua's barrister defended the suspect and said as reported by Daily Mail, "The police put huge resources into investigating what happened at Stepping Hill Hospital with a vast number of officers. Can they end up at the end of the day saying "I don't know who did it?" Somebody at the end of the day has to carry the can."
He added that there was no evidence that proves Chua tampered the charts and records. Chua has been spending years on bail and now, he has been charged with murder and poisoning that led to physical injuries.
"Should the jury conclude that the insulin contamination and the altered prescriptions were not the work of the same person, the prosecution case would be 'like a ship that has been holed," he added.
According to Griffiths, the person who altered the records and contaminated saline drops with insulin did not intend to kill the patients. Instead, he noted that perhaps the person could have wanted to add burden to the work of a co-worker or a senior staff.
Chua, father of two, denies being responsible for the deaths of three patients namely Arden, 44, Arnold Lancaster, 71, and Derek Weaver, 83.