The military trial of an Air Force nurse charged with murdering three patients will go into a third day on Thursday.
Captain Michael Fontana is accused of giving three elderly end-of-life patients at Wilford Hall excessive doses of medication that resulted in their deaths.
The defense on Wednesday tried to shift the blame away from Fontana and onto his supervising doctors.
Fontana’s attorney argued the medication orders given by the doctors to the nurse were “misleading” and “incomplete.” The defense argued the responsibility lies with the doctors, and Fontana is being used as a scapegoat.
At one point Wednesday, questioning by the defense became so heated, medical resident Dr. Charla Tully broke down in tears.
In testimony about Fontana, Tully said, "He did not carry out an order. He did something on his own admission."
She also testified about the amount of morphine Fontana gave 74 year-old Dorothy Gray. Tully said she had never seen morphine given in such large doses before.
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