Nurse Arrested After Child Dies From Suspected Poisoning at Hospital

A nurse has been arrested on suspicion of poisoning a sick child "with intent to endanger life" after the infant died whilst in her hospital's care.

The 27-year-old medic, who worked for Birmingham Children's Hospital in the U.K., was reportedly arrested within hours of the youngster's death in the intensive care unit.

She has now been released from custody and suspended from her job, while detectives and forensic examiners investigate the cause of death. No charges have been brought against her.

The child's bereaved family is being comforted by specially trained officers, police say.

News of the arrest was broken by The Sun newspaper at the weekend, but details about the case remain scarce, with key facts—such as the age of the child and the condition he or she was being treated for—not yet revealed by authorities.

A spokesman for West Midlands Police, central England, told the paper: "We have arrested a 27-year-old woman in connection with the death of an infant. The child sadly passed away on Thursday [May 19] at hospital.

"The woman was arrested on Thursday evening at a property in the West Midlands area on suspicion of administering poison with intent to endanger life. She has been released while the investigation continues and the results of forensic tests are examined.

"The family of the child are being supported by specially trained officers."

The hospital is managed by the Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS (National Health Service) Foundation Trust.

An insider at the organization was quoted anonymously by The Sun as saying: "This has sent shockwaves through the trust. This is incredibly rare and disturbing."

Spokesperson for the trust Paul Whittaker told Newsweek: "Following the death of an infant at our Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Birmingham Children's Hospital, we have asked West Midlands Police to examine what has happened, in line with our own safeguarding policy.

"The staff member involved has been suspended by the Trust after following the national process on the sudden unexpected death of a child. We are supporting the infant's family at this distressing time and ask that privacy is respected during this process."

Birmingham Children's Hospital is one of the UK's leading ­pediatric care centers, and treats up to 90,000 patients—all under the age of 16—each year.

Newsweek has reached out to West Midlands Police and the Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust for further information.

News of the investigation will shock Britain, which was rocked by a serial child-killer nurse two decades ago.

Nurse Beverley Allitt, who was dubbed the "Angel of Death," murdered four babies and poisoned nine others during a 59-day killing spree at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital, Lincolnshire, in 1991. She was jailed for life in 1993.

Meanwhile, a nurse in Japan was accused of killing dozens of adult patients by poisoning their intravenous drips over a three-month period in 2016.

Ayumi Kuboki, 31, was later found guilty of killing three elderly patients. She said she carried out the murders—which she timed carefully—to ensure the patients would die on other nurses' shifts, so that she would be spared having to deal with bereaved relatives if they died on her own shift.

Kuboki, who worked at a hospital in the city of Yokohama, was spared the death penalty, but will spend the rest of her life behind bars.

Update 5/24/22, 11:59 a.m. EDT: This article has been updated with comment from Paul Whittaker of the Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust.