Backgrounds of people who wish to work in social and health fields to be checked
Charges against nurse in Ylöjärvi murder case to be stiffened
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Minister of Health and Social Services Paula Risikko (National Coalition Party) will set in motion an amendment next week, the aim of which will be to enforce the checking of backgrounds and possible criminal records of people who wish to work in the social and health sectors. The matter was reported by the Aamulehti daily in its Friday issue.
The present legislation only covers the checking of criminal backgrounds of nurses and teachers who wish to work with children.
Risikko would also like to restore the aptitude testing of those aiming to work in the health care field. Such testing was discontinued at the beginning of the decade. According to the minister there is reason to ask whether a statutory compulsory testing of all individuals seeking to work in the health care field should be imposed.
In Risikko’s view, a law on new health field assurance practices could come into force as early as next year. The matter came to light in the wake of a recent murder investigation involving a trained nurse.
The titles of the criminal charges brought against the nurse, who is suspected of poisoning two mentally handicapped patients in Ylöjärvi and having tried to poison two other disabled patients, will be toughened.
According to a doctor’s statement, there was a remarkably high level of insulin in the blood of the 8-month-old baby, who is a suspected victim of a poisoning attempt. Such high levels can only originate from a pharmaceutical preparation, the statement reads.
As a result, the baby’s blood sugar level dropped life-threateningly low.
The police have therefore changed the felony title from "aggravated assault" to "attempted murder". Hence the nurse is now suspected of two murders and two attempted murders. As yet, it is unclear which agent was given to the second murder attempt victim.
The medico-legal examination of the two murder victims is still under way. The 26-year-old nurse was remanded for further proceedings in Tampere on Sunday.
The woman continues to deny any involvement in the murders or the attempted murders. She has been questioned almost daily, confirms Det. Insp. Paavo Tuominen, who leads the ongoing investigation.
The police are still to decide whether there might be reason to suspect the woman of wrongdoings also at her previous job at the Nokia Health Centre, where she worked from the beginning of the year until the end of May, before transferring to Ylöjärvi.
The police may yet end up exhuming the bodies of patients who died during the time the nurse worked at the Nokia Health Centre, if the National Bureau of Investigation, Finland’s central criminal police, decides there is enough reason to suspect the woman of foul play in Nokia as well.
The present legislation only covers the checking of criminal backgrounds of nurses and teachers who wish to work with children.
Risikko would also like to restore the aptitude testing of those aiming to work in the health care field. Such testing was discontinued at the beginning of the decade. According to the minister there is reason to ask whether a statutory compulsory testing of all individuals seeking to work in the health care field should be imposed.
In Risikko’s view, a law on new health field assurance practices could come into force as early as next year. The matter came to light in the wake of a recent murder investigation involving a trained nurse.
The titles of the criminal charges brought against the nurse, who is suspected of poisoning two mentally handicapped patients in Ylöjärvi and having tried to poison two other disabled patients, will be toughened.
According to a doctor’s statement, there was a remarkably high level of insulin in the blood of the 8-month-old baby, who is a suspected victim of a poisoning attempt. Such high levels can only originate from a pharmaceutical preparation, the statement reads.
As a result, the baby’s blood sugar level dropped life-threateningly low.
The police have therefore changed the felony title from "aggravated assault" to "attempted murder". Hence the nurse is now suspected of two murders and two attempted murders. As yet, it is unclear which agent was given to the second murder attempt victim.
The medico-legal examination of the two murder victims is still under way. The 26-year-old nurse was remanded for further proceedings in Tampere on Sunday.
The woman continues to deny any involvement in the murders or the attempted murders. She has been questioned almost daily, confirms Det. Insp. Paavo Tuominen, who leads the ongoing investigation.
The police are still to decide whether there might be reason to suspect the woman of wrongdoings also at her previous job at the Nokia Health Centre, where she worked from the beginning of the year until the end of May, before transferring to Ylöjärvi.
The police may yet end up exhuming the bodies of patients who died during the time the nurse worked at the Nokia Health Centre, if the National Bureau of Investigation, Finland’s central criminal police, decides there is enough reason to suspect the woman of foul play in Nokia as well.
Helsingin Sanomat