MORRISON CASE DETAILS SURFACE

HALIFAX, NS, Mar 5 (LSN) – The details of the Dr. Nancy Morrison murder trial have been released since the judges ruling has brought an end to the publication ban.  During the trial it was revealed that a nurse witnessed Morrison giving two injections into the patient's IV line.  The nurse questioned Morrison about the content of the syringes at the time and learned that the needles contained nitroglycerine and potassium chloride (KCl). Within a minute of the KCl injection the patient was dead. After being briefed on the suspicious activity of Morrison, nursing supervisor Paula Poirer questioned Morrison as to why she had administered KCl. According to Poirier, the doctor replied: “Oh my God, I don’t know why.” Geoffrey Barker, the chief of critical care medicine at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, testified as an expert witness noting that KCl had no value as a medicine for relieving pain or discomfort in terminally ill patients. Barker also said it was fair to assume that when administered as described in the case “it’s being used to hasten death.”  The defence noted that the concentrations of KCl in the injection could not be known and thus the evidence was not concrete. Also, due to the nature of KCI's quick deterioration in the body, an autopsy could not reveal the presence of the drug. Further, the defense under lawyer Brian Greenspan noted that there is some evidence to suggest that the IV was faulty and thus the drugs administered would have had no effect.  Nova Scotia Provincial Court Justice Hughes Randall said the Crown had failed to provide sufficient evidence to commit Morrison to stand trial on the charge of first-degree murder or any lesser offence in the November, 1996, death of Paul Mills. Lead prosecutor Craig Botterill said the Crown is considering an appeal of the ruling to a higher court. It may also send the matter to trial through a preferred indictment, or abandon the case altogether.