Tuesday 18 September 2012

Czech’s shocked by hospital killings - Text 2



Czech’s shocked by hospital killings


A It was a news report that sent shivers down people’s spines. Since May 2006 a 30-year old nurse had killed eight people and attempted to kill at least nine more at a hospital in eastern Bohemia’s Havlíčkův Brod. There is no indication that his motive was euthanasia – none of the people he killed were suffering from a terminal illness and they were all expected to recover.

B When thirty year old Petr Zelenka started work at the Havlíčkův Brod Hospital as a nurse he seemed like the ideal employee – devoted, enthusiastic and willing to work overtime whenever needed. In his spare time he studied to improve his knowledge of medicine, particularly his knowledge of pharmaceuticals. When he was promoted to a head nurse on night shifts he started applying his knowledge in practice. On nights when he was in charge the entire intensive care unit was in his hands – and he started injecting his victims with heparin – a blood-thinning drug causing internal bleeding when administered in large doses.
Milan Juško who heads the investigation told the media he was certain that the nurse had not been acting as an angel of mercy: “This had nothing to do with euthanasia – this was carefully plannedmurder.”

C The hospital’s head physician Pavel Longin says that the higher number of cases in which patients died as a result of internal haemorrhaging alerted him to the fact that something was wrong: “We were investigating who was on duty at the time. I thought it might be two or three nurses who were new and inexperienced. I thought we would have to watch them very carefully but instead we found that nurse Zelenka figured in every single case and that was definitely very suspect.” The hospital sacked Zelenka in September and reported the incident to the police almost a month later. The nurse, who had in the meantime began work at a hospital in a different Czech town - in Jihlava, was arrested on December 1. There is no indication that he had managed to commit any murders at his new workplace.

D Now, many are questioning how the perpetrator was able to get away with it the long four months – why did it take so long for the hospital and the police to act? The hospital’s director has since been sacked and an investigation is underway to assess whether the police could have sped up the arrest.

E With eight murders and at least nine attempted murders to his name Zelenka could face anything between 15 years in prison and a life sentence. This is one area where the suspect has shown emotion: surprise that in the end he was caught.



dose – dávka
haemorrhaging – krvácení
mercy – milosrdenství
perpetrator – pachatel
sack – propustit ze zaměstnání
sent shivers down people’s spines – leze z toho mráz po zádech
to speed up – urychlit
underway – na cestě



1) Read the article and match each of the headings to a paragraph.

1 Why did it last so long to find the perpetrator?
2 Petr Zelenka – a devoted nurse or a murderer?
3 Sentence for Zelenka
4 Pavel Longin was searching for the perpetrator
5 Introduction

2) Read the article again and answer the questions.

1 What is the article about?
2 Who is Petr Zelenka?
3 What did he do?
4 How did Pavel Longin search for the perpetrator?
5 What could be the sentence?

3) Explain the following words.

1 euthanasia
2 terminal illness
3 victim
4 nurse
5 attempted murder

4) Answer the following questions.

What is euthanasia? Where can it be applied? Should it be legal? And why? What are types of euthanasia?

Adjusted to:

2 comments:

  1. 1)1.D,2.B, 3.E, 4.C, 5.A
    2) 1. The article is about killing in hospital in czech republic. In article is killings in hospital in Havlíčkův Brod
    2. Petr Zelenka is started work at the Havlíčkův Brod Hospital as a nurse he seemed like the ideal employee – devoted, enthusiastic and willing to work overtime whenever needed. In his free tim he study knowledge of medicine.
    3. On nights when he was in charge the entire intensive he started injecting his victims with heparin – a blood-thinning drug causing internal bleeding when administered in large doses.
    4. They were investigating who was on duty at the time. They thought it might be two or three nurses who were new and inexperienced. He thought he would have to watch them very carefully but instead we found that nurse Zelenka figured in every single case and that was definitely very suspect.
    5. I don´t know
    3) 1 euthanasia it is the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable ill. The practice is illegal in most countries. It´s a noun
    2 terminal illness it is a situation where people can no longer cure their illness and are just waiting for them to die
    3 victim it is a person who was harmed, or killed as a result of a crime, accident, or other event. It´s a nou
    4 nurse it is a person trained to care for the sick or infirm, especially in a hospital. It´s a noun
    5 attempted murder is a situation where people voluntarily decide to end their lives, for example because they have some problems

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  2. 1)
    1.D
    2.B
    3.E
    4.C
    5.A

    2)
    1. The article is about the nurse who was killing patients in hospital in Czech republic.
    2. Petr Zelenka is an employee of the hospital, who at first seems ideal, but he became a murderer.
    3. On nights when he was in charge the entire intensive he started injecting his victims with heparin – a blood-thinning drug causing internal bleeding when administered in large doses.
    4. Investigators suspected two nurses. But they found out that in any case Zelenka played a role.
    5. Zelenka claimed that he helped people with euthanasia. But according to investigators, he cannot play the angel of mercy.

    3)
    1. euthanasia - it's a noun, it's the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable ill. In most countries is it illegal.
    2. terminal illness - it's a noun, it's a situation when patient cannot be a cured.
    3. victim - it's a noun, it's a person who was harmed or killed as a result of a crime, accident.
    4. nurse - it's a noun, it's a person who work in hospital, she has a professional education for this work.
    5. attempted murder - it's a noun, it's a situation when the murder failed and the victim did not die.

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