Two years after devastating allegations first came to light, a trial investigating the suspicious deaths of five newborn babies at a neonatal hospital in Córdoba Province will begin this Monday.
The trial beginning Monday comes after an appeals court rejected appeals by their legal teams. Eleven defendants are in the dock for a trial by jury in which hundreds of witnesses will testify.
The leading figure in the case is 30-year-old nurse Brenda Agüero, who is accused of infanticide. She is accused of injecting potassium into the newborns, causing fatal hyperkalemia.
Among the other accused are healthcare professionals, former provincial government officials and top executives at the Hospital Materno Neonatal Ministro Dr. Ramón Carillo in Córdoba.
The incidents under investigation occurred between March and June 2022, during which five newborn babies died suddenly after healthy births. Another eight children exhibited the same symptoms but managed to recover.
Suspicions about the babies’ deaths were only aired when one of the victims’ grandmothers filed a complaint on June 6.
Post-mortem investigations found toxic levels of potassium in some of the infants.
Autopsy results published in August 2022 concluded at least two of the dead infants had been injected “intentionally” with amounts of potassium “incompatible with life.”
Puncture marks on the babies’ backs aroused suspicion. The children were required to have three injections upon birth but had four wounds. Welts and bruises appeared near the puncture site on several bodies.
Agüero, who was responsible for vaccinating children at birth at the hospital, has been in custody since August 2022.
She faces charges of "aggravated homicide by repeated insidious procedures" for the five deceased babies, and is also charged with "attempted homicide" for the other eight affected.
Former hospital director Liliana Asís is also in custody, accused of "aggravated concealment, ideological falsehood, and omission of the duties of a public official."
Former Córdoba Province Health Minister Diego Cardozo has also been charged with covering-up the crime and breach of duty.
The hospital's former head of nursing, Alicia Beatriz Ariza, doctor Pablo Miguel Carvajal, and the former deputy director of Administrative Management at the Health Ministry, Julio Alejandro Tomás Escudero Salama face similar allegations.
Proceedings will take place at the Seventh Criminal Chamber of Córdoba (Cámara en lo Criminal y Correccional de la 7ª Nominación de Córdoba), presided over by judges Patricia Soria, José Daniel Cesano, and Laura Huberman.
Prosecutors Sergio Ruiz Moreno and Mercedes Ballestrini will make the case in a trial that will begin with four hearings a week and the accused present in court.
The trial is expected to last until at least mid-June.
– TIMES/NA
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