8. Nurse killed 13 patients

Nurse killed 13 patients

Before you start reading, study the following vocabulary:

Accuse of 
Care 
Elderly 
Potassium 
Appeals court judge 
Prosecutor 


NURSE KILLED 13 PATIENTS
A nurse has been accused of murdering 13 patients, including a two-month-old baby and a U.N. war crimes judge. 
Isabella de Berk, 40, was arrested in December 2001 in connection with a series of deaths at three hospitals between February 1997 and September 2001. She is accused of killing five children and eight elderly people in her care. They all died after being given drugs like potassium and morphine. The court heard on Tuesday that one of the victims was a physically and mentally handicapped boy. 
Asked about the death of Ahmad Noory, a six-year-old Afghan boy in her care, de Berk said: "I didn't do it. I am sure. I found him in that state." 
She added: "I have a clear conscience. I didn't do a thing. Of course it's strange, but I don't know how it happened." 
One of her victims was also 91-year-old Chinese judge Haopei Li, who was a U.N. war crimes official who worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at the Hague. Li, an appeals court judge, died in a Hague hospital in November 1997. 
Prosecutors think de Berk is a classic psychopath "obsessed with death." 
In March, investigators exhumed the bodies of three children. At first, the police believed they died of terminal illnesses. The FBI experts found poisonous toxins in their blood. 
De Berk grew up in Canada after moving to Winnipeg from the Netherlands with her parents. After working as a prostitute in Vancouver she was admitted to medical training courses using a fake high school diploma.

 
 
 
 

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Questions

What do the following phrases mean?
  1. "They died of terminal illnesses" means: 
  2. "I found him in that state" means: 
  3. "I have a clear conscience" means: 
  4. "A fake high school diploma" means: 
  5. "Obsessed with death" means: 
Are the following statements about the text correct?

1.   De Berk killed 13 children.

2.   The FBI experts didn't find any problems in the exhumed bodies of the dead children.

3.   De Berk is Canadian.

4.   Isabella de Berk is seriously ill.

5.   De Berk admitted killing an Afghan boy.

 

Answer Key