From the courtroom

Demented woman sedated with medication

Whether the Romanian woman had given the senior citizen an overdose could not be determined afterwards.(Bild: Chantall Dorn)

A Romanian woman with a criminal record had to answer to the provincial court in Feldkirch on Tuesday for grievous bodily harm and theft. She got off - somewhat surprisingly - with a fine.

The 46-year-old Romanian woman worked for two weeks as a 24-hour caregiver for a patient suffering from Alzheimer's disease in Vorarlberg. In order to sedate the elderly woman during this time, the nurse administered benzodiazepines, which she had brought with her from Romania, several times without authorization.

After the 83-year-old became increasingly apathetic and suddenly suffered from shortness of breath one morning, the Romanian woman informed her daughter. She had already become suspicious beforehand and suspected that the 24-hour care service was not always up to scratch.

A rapid test on the 83-year-old woman in hospital for benzodiazepines was positive. The patient then had to be injected with two ampoules of an antidote. However, as the emergency room had forgotten to determine the level of benzodiazepines in the woman's blood, it was not clear whether the woman had actually been given an overdose.

No evidence of intent
"If you look at the primary's evidence, you can't establish intent to injure. You testified that you administered half a tablet to the patient three times during those two weeks because the woman was restless and you wanted to prevent her from falling out of bed at night. The primary physician himself said that your statements could not be refuted," the judge explains.

In the end, she acquitted the nurse of the charge of grievous bodily harm. For the theft of alcohol from the care recipient's home, the Ms. Rat handed down a non-appealable guilty verdict. The Romanian woman is allowed to pay the fine of 800 euros in installments.