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Captain Michael Fontana
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The trial of an Air Force nurse charged with three counts of murder continued in San Antonio. More from Texas Public Radio’s Terry Gildea.
November 19, 2009 · Captain Michael Fontana is accused of killing three terminally ill civilian patients by injecting them with lethal doses of narcotics.
His military court martial continued Thursday at Lackland Air Force Base.
The prosecution called Dr. Dara Regn to the stand. She worked in the ICU supervising the care of the patients Fontana is accused of murdering.
One of those was Dorothy Gray, a stroke patient whose condition was grim. She wasn’t able to breath on her own and had to rely on a feeding tube for nourishment.
Because of her prognosis, Gray’s family asked that she receive what is called "end of life comfort care."
Dr. Regn ordered a morphine drip for Gray to deliver the pain medication gradually. But the prosecution maintains that Fontana injected Gray with a high dose of morphine and an anti-anxiety drug called Ativan, causing her death.
Dr. Regn claims that Ativan was never ordered, but Fontana came to the attending physician Major Joshua Sill with an order for Ativan and Sill signed it, believing that another physician wrote the order.
Civilan Defense Attorney Elizabeth Higginbotham harshly cross examined Dr. Regn, saying that she and Dr. Sill added notes to the records after the fact to cover up their own mistakes.
The court martial could continue through next week. If convicted, Fontana faces life in prison. |
