Italian nurse, accused of killing patient, is linked to other deaths

An Italian nurse who took photographs of herself with dead patients has been accused of murdering one of them and might be behind the deaths of dozens of others, according to reports.

Daniela Poggiali, 42, was arrested after an autopsy on a 78-year-old woman who died in her care revealed dangerous levels of potassium in her system.

Since then, details of the case have been leaked slowly to the media, alongside photographs of the blonde nurse grinning next to apparently dead patients.

The Umberto I Hospital in Lugo in northern Italy launched an investigation after it discovered she was on duty when 38 of 86 patients during a three-month period died, while the average number of deaths when her colleagues were on duty was 10.

Poggiali, who reportedly had a bad relationship with the others on the ward, was accused of injecting "annoying" patients with a massive dose of potassium, the reports said.

Potassium can stop the heart and is one of the components used in the lethal injection given to death-row inmates in the United States.