Daniela: the devil in nurse’s uniform | M6 | 66 minutes

The story sends a chill down the spine. The Italian police seem to be about to resolve the horrific mystery of the hospital at Lugo, a small town nestled in the heart of the Emilia-Romagna province. On Friday 10th October, nurse Daniela Poggiali was arrested accused of the fatal poisoning of 38 patients with potassium chloride over the last five years. Her unbelievable justification? The patients or their families “were bothering her”. An investigation into a cold-blooded killer. Her latest victim, Rosa Calderoni, aged 78. Admitted last April with a benign case of diabetes, she died mysteriously in her hospital bed. The case shook Italy with the funeral followed on live television by thousands of viewers. In her blood, forensic experts found high doses of potassium chloride, a substance that cannot be bought in a pharmacy. Pushing the macabre to unprecedented heights, the killer nurse had no hesitation in taking a selfie beside the body of Calderoni, watched by one of her astonished colleagues. However, a problem arises for the investigators, led by Public Prosecutor Alessandro Mancini, to prove 100% that Poggalia was involved given that potassium chloride disappears from the blood after a few days. Considered to be a “cold and hard-working” person by the hospital staff, the 40-year-old nurse had already attracted attention for having given laxatives to a patient with the intention of making her colleagues’ task more difficult.