A Dutch geriatric nurse is to face trial for four murders as a result of unnecessary insulin injections, local media reported on Friday.

Geriatrics or geriatric medicine is a speciality that focuses on health care of elderly people. It aims to promote health by preventing and treating diseases and disabilities in older adults.

“The 22-year-old man is also accused of attempted murder in seven other cases,” the prosecutor in the city of Rotterdam said.

In 2017, the caregiver is said to have injected insulin into several elderly patients in nursing homes in the region, although this was not medically necessary.

The patients then became seriously ill or died.

Doctors by the end of 2017, had become suspicious of a high level of insulin in the blood of one seriously ill patient.

The nurse had worked as temporary staff, especially at night and weekends, when there was little supervision because of a lack of staff.

The man’s motives remain unknown. A psychiatric report is due to be presented in the spring.

(NAN)