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- An Italian doctor has been arrested for supplying his patients with lethal doses of anesthetic to free up beds.
- Carlo Mosca, 47, was head of accident and emergency at Montichiari Hospital near Brescia, Lombardy.
- Natale Bassi, 61, died on March 20, 2020 and 80-year-old Angelo Paletti died two days later.
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A doctor is accused of killing COVID-19 patients with lethal doses of anesthetic to free up beds, as the hospital was overwhelmed by the massive coronavirus outbreak in Italy in March 2020.
Carlo Mosca, 47, was head of accident and emergency at Montichiari Hospital near Brescia, Lombardy, when he administered Succinylcholine and Propofol to two patients, the Metro reported.
Both anesthetics were available so that coronavirus patients could be intubated. However, prosecutors said that neither patient ever was, and Mosca had no reason to use them, according to the Mirror.
Natale Bassi, 61, a diabetic who suffered from heart disease, died on March 20, 2020 and 80-year-old Angelo Paletti died two days later.
An anonymous complaint against Mosca from late April included a WhatsApp text which read: "I am not in favor of killing patients just because he wants to free up beds" and a reply from a colleague that said: "I agree with you, he's crazy," according to The Times.
COVID-19 hit Lombardy as early as January 2020, and cases rapidly increased in March when Bassi and Paletti's deaths occurred, as its hospitals buckled under the strain of treating thousands of cases of the little-known virus.
Italy was the first European country to face the massive struggle of the coronavirus. Its COVID-19 death toll stands at more than 87,000.
In March, British nurse Connor McAinsh worked at Gavazeni Hospital in Bergamo, close to Brescia.
He told ITV News, at the time: "We went from taking care of individual patients with their own problems, to having an endless amount of people with the same problem and not enough time or material to deal with everybody.
'It's just an endless stream of people coming in and as soon as we have a bed, we have a new patient coming in who needs critical care."
Mosca has also been accused of faking health records with court documents saying it was done to "make the patient appear terminal and therefore not arouse suspicion," the Daily Mail reported.
He is currently under house arrest at his home in Mantua and a further three deaths are also being investigated, the Mirror noted.
Mosca, who has been suspended from his role, says the case against him is made up of 'baseless allegations,' the Daily Mail added.