Córdoba Neonatal Hospital baby deaths

Between March and June 2022, unusually high infant mortality rates occurred at a neonatal nursing unit in the Ramón Castillo Neonatal Hospital in Córdoba, Argentina. A series of investigations initially pointed to a hospital-acquired infection or malpractice.

After lengthy investigations indicated that five babies had been poisoned and eight others had suffered an assault, police arrested nurse Brenda Agüero, whom prosecutors later charged with five counts of "aggravated murder for applying the insidious method of potassium incompatible with life." Agüero was later charged with eight other counts of attempted murder.

The prosecution treats the case as one of a serial killer.

Agüero remains incarcerated awaiting her trial.

Initial investigation
In early June 2022, the provincial government intervened at the Ramón Castillo Neonatal Hospital after reports of healthy babies dying without cause. Prosecutor Raúl Garzón labelled the case as "enormously grave" but initially indicated that they could have been either cases of malpractice or hospital-acquired infections, and no accusations were made. Nonetheless, Garzón ordered a search warrant on the hospital and relieved twenty employees from their duties.

Police and prosecutors began to suspect that there had been foul play when no more deaths occurred after the suspension of those twenty employees. On the same day that the hospital was searched, authorities suspended the head of the hospital. The investigation was prompted by a doctor who refused to sign the death certificates of two healthy babies who died on the same day of June 2022; allegedly the two last babies to die from external cause (murder).

As the search warrant was served, the prosecution asked for the exhumation of the remains of the deceased babies, whose autopsies showed abnormal levels of potassium, which medical investigators attributed to being deliberately injected to the babies, as said levels of potassium are not normally produced by the body. Further investigations showed that the babies had not been injected with the potassium via IV method, but instead, that they had received the injections in their backs and with clothes on, while they were at the resuscitation room.

On the same day that police announced the arrest of nurse Brenda Agüero, the minister of health of Córdoba, Diego Cardozo, resigned to his position after heavy criticism for his handling of the case. Cardozo said that he had presented his resignation with the goal of helping clarify and serve justice in the case. Governor Juan Schiaretti assigned the ministry to María Gabriela Barbás.

In February 2023, the head of the hospital, 70-year-old Liliana Asís, was arrested and accused of concealing the unnatural deaths of the babies to the authorities. She was granted house arrest in May 2023 due to her deteriorating health while in prison. Along with Asís, more officials and local politicians, were indicted for either concealment or wrongdoing.

Hospital report
After the hospital was intervened, the nursing personnel decided to conduct their own investigation, tracing clinical reports, inventory of pharmacological drugs, and the shifts taken by each nurse during the span of the deaths. Among the discoveries, the head of the pharmacy of the hospital found that there was a faulty report on 20 vials of potassium for the month of June, when three of the deaths occurred. Other nursing personnel reported that Brenda Agüero was raising suspicions among the nurses because of her odd behavior interacting with others, including that she volunteered to undress babies for their routinely check-up. This task was assigned to another nurse, and not to Agüero. Her colleagues also reported to police that Agüero usually dressed in long sleeves, including on hot summer days, coinciding with the prosecution's accusation.

Arrest of Brenda Agüero
On 20 August 2022, police announced the arrest of Brenda Cecilia Agüero (born 1995 in Buenos Aires); a nurse who worked in the neonatal unit and who had been among the suspended personnel during the initial investigation. Agüero lived with her mother and two sisters in the outskirts of Río Ceballos, Córdoba, at the time of her arrest.

Agüero graduated as a nurse with excelling results in 2018 and moved to Córdoba, where she worked at a private hospital between 2019 and December 2020, when she resigned to keep her only job at the Ramón Castillo Neonatal Hospital. Agüero denied the accusations and abstained from testifying.

Days after her arrest, Agüero was formally charged with five counts of "aggravated murder for applying the insidious method of potassium incompatible with life." and eight counts of attempted murder. Agüero later accused a colleague of hers of the deaths, saying that this male nurse was present where the deaths occurred "all the time."

Pre-trial proceedings
The first evidence that the prosecution introduced against Agüero, was immediately after her arrest, alleging that Agüero was behind every case, both deaths and decompensations, and that Agüero herself was in the place of the incidents, further alleging that she was the one who notified the doctors and other medical personnel that an emergency with a newborn was underway. On the same day that the prosecution introduced their first accusation, the court in charge of the pre-trial procedures, ordered psychiatric and psychological evaluations of Agüero, to later dictate pre-trial detention.

In January 2023, the psychiatric evaluators determined that Agüero knows right from wrong and that she does not suffer from any mental disorder. The psychiatrists further argued that Agüero tried to "manipulate the interview" and that she has difficulties in regards to feeling what others do. After the evaluation, Agüero's indictment was confirmed.

The prosecution alleged that in November 2021, Agüero searched on Google "how to dose potassium and insulin injections in newborns." Agüero denied that she searched "how to apply potassium injections" in Google and alleged that she does not have the knowledge to perform such procedure.

Another accusation argued that Agüero concealed the syringes with which she allegedly injected the babies with potassium, under her sleeves, with other medical personnel noting that she went to work with long-sleeved shirts even on hot summer days. According to prosecutor Garzón, Agüero did so as a modus operandi while she visited the resuscitation room with the newborns in arms. In April 2023, the prosecution added the testimony of the mother of one of the babies who survived the assault. The woman personally accused Agüero and placed her at the side of her baby when the baby decompensated.

On 9 August 2023, prosecutor Garzón said that the investigation had entered "its final phase," adding that his office had received reports from other two suspicious deaths of babies. Garzón also said that before going to trial, the prosecution would add more testimonies and witness evidence.

On 23 August 2023, the prosecution released the results of the investigation of Agüero's cellphone, where investigators found nine PDF files. Among the nine files, the prosecution said that information was found on how to dose potassium, information related to cardiac arrests, numerous pages of neonatal medications, CPR manuals, and an article on how should medical personnel react to families grieving a newborn. Agüero's defense argued that these files were not downloaded by Agüero herself, but instead, sent to her via WhatsApp.

In September 2023, the prosecution added the analysis by a team of criminal profilers who determined that the killings were acts of serial murders and that a single perpetrator was behind them. Without mentioning Agüero, prosecutor Garzón said that the analysis will be a key to the cause, because the profilers also pointed to a person with access to the babies and who did not initially raise any suspicion.

In late September 2023, prosecutor Raúl Garzón petitioned for the case to be taken to court for trial. The defense of Brenda Agüero announced that they would appeal the petition.

Trial
On 9 May 2024, control judge Juan Manuel Fernández López rejected Agüero's appeals against the prosecution's petition to taker her to trial, and ordered that she stand trial on five counts of aggravated murder, as well as other eight counts of attempted murder. Along with Agüero, judge Fernández López also ordered that 10 officials face trial at the same courtroom where Agüero will be tried.

The trial date is due to be set soon, and Agüero remains incarcerated.

The trial will be by jury, and the 11 defendants are:


 * Brenda Agüero: accused of being a serial killer behind the murders.
 * Diego Cardozo: former health minister of Córdoba Province.
 * Liliana Asís: former head of the Neonatal Hospital.
 * Claudia Ringelheim: former vice-head of the Neonatal Hospital.
 * Alejandro Escudero Salama: former member of the chair of the Neonatal Hospital.
 * Blanca Alicia Ariza: former head of the nursing department of Neonatal Hospital.
 * Pablo Carvajal: former health secretary of the province.
 * Alejandro Gauto: lawyer and former member of the provincial health department.
 * Marta Gómez: former head of the neonatal unit of the hospital.
 * Adriana Morales: former doctor at the hospital.
 * María Alejandra Luján: former neonatologist at the hospital.