Polish nurse suspected of killing patients
March 8, 2018
Authorities in Munich announced on Wednesday that a Polish nurse, who is suspected of killing and robbing a patient under his care, may have been involved in other suspicious deaths under similar circumstances.
The police took the unusual step of releasing the name of the suspect, 36-year-old Grzegorz Stanislaw Wolsztajn, in the hopes of receiving information from the public that could help the investigation. Due to German privacy laws, authorities usually conceal the last name of criminal suspects.
Wolsztajn called an ambulance on February 12 to report the death of the elderly man under his care. The death quickly became suspicious, when a subsequent autopsy revealed two small punctures from a needle in the deceased man's body.
Additionally, the retiree had an abnormally low blood sugar level, which puzzled forensic examiners as the man did not have a diabetic condition. Alarmingly low blood sugar levels can occur from an overdose of insulin.
Authorities turned to Wolsztajn as a suspect and arrested him. They found that the Pole had two debit cards and cash from the deceased man in his possession. Wolsztajn confessed to stealing the money from the victim, police said.
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Similar cases
The Polish nurse told authorities that he had worked abroad as an untrained nurse since 2008 in England and Germany, but he did not provide further details about these jobs. The Director of Munich's homicide squad said that many of Wolsztajn's job contracts had been terminated prematurely.
The investigation has unearthed other suspicious cases that could be linked to Wolsztajn, authorities suspect. Munich police referred to at least four other former patients who were hospitalized with life-threatening conditions. One of them died.
Police in the western city of Mainz said Wednesday that a search warrant for Wolsztajn had been issued in 2017 after he failed to appear at his job and was suspected to have stolen from the patient, who died days later.
Authorities have theorized that Wolsztajn's motives may have been malice and greed, but they have asked the public to come forward with any information on the nurse's background that may help in the investigation.
In a separate case, a German nurse, who is currently serving a life sentence for killing two patients, was later found to have been involved in killing 97 others.
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jcg/aw (AP, dpa)