Ex-Nurse Suggests Having Poisoned Drips of Some 20 Patients

July 9, 2018

Yokohama- A former nurse suggested that she mixed disinfectant into intravenous drips for around 20 patients, during police questioning before she was arrested Saturday over the poisoning death of a patient at a hospital in Yokohama in 2016, investigative sources said Monday.

Ayumi Kuboki, 31, is suspected of killing the 88-year-old patient, Sozo Nishikawa, at the hospital by infusing his drip with a disinfectant solution on Sept. 18 that year. She has denied she had any grudge against the victim, the sources said.

Police are investigating whether she is also responsible for the deaths of other patients who shared the same floor at the hospital with Nishikawa. A total of 48 patients there died between July 1 and Sept. 20 that year.

Another 88-year-old patient, Nobuo Yamaki, died on Sept. 20, and a surfactant substance used in disinfectant was detected in his body the following day. On Sept. 26, a surfactant was also found in the body of Nishikawa, who was initially deemed to have died of disease.

Surfactants have also been found in the bodies of two other patients who died aged 78 and 89, as well as unused drip bags at the hospital. Jiji Press