BELGIUM
UCA News
Catholic Ireland Belgium June 10, 2014
A deacon serving in the Catholic Church in Belgium has been arrested and charged over the deaths of at least 40 patients in a Catholic hospital.
57-year-old Deacon Ivo Poppe reportedly kept records of patients whom he smothered or to whom he gave a lethal dose of insulin at Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur Menin.
The married father of three adult children worked at the hospital as a nurse from 1980 until 2002 when he was ordained as a deacon.
He continued to visit the hospital as a part-time pastoral assistant until he began working full-time as a deacon in 2011.
According to his lawyers, Poppe said he was acting out of compassion when he felt the patients’ suffering was excessive.
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