Neonatal Nurse ‘Playing God’ Injected Infants with Chemicals — Killing 5. Now She’s Behind Bars for Life

In just three months at a neonatal unit in Argentina, five babies died and eight more became critically ill — all during the same nurse’s shifts.

In June 2025, a jury in Córdoba found Brenda Cecilia Agüero guilty of five counts of aggravated murder and eight counts of attempted murder after a six-month trial and about 10 hours of deliberation, according to the Buenos Aires Times, El País and the Buenos Aires Herald.

She was sentenced to life in prison at Bouwer Penitentiary, with the possibility of parole after 35 years.

Agüero has claimed she is innocent, saying she was made a scapegoat for problems at the hospital.

“She was playing God. She decided who lived and who died,” attorney Daniela Morales Leanza said in court, according to the Buenos Aires Herald.

Court evaluations described Agüero as narcissistic, eccentric, and lacking empathy. They also suggested she gained satisfaction from other people’s suffering and wanted recognition to advance her career.

The first emergency linked to the case happened in March 2022 at Hospital Materno Neonatal Ramón Carrillo, when a healthy newborn suddenly had heart and breathing problems. In the following weeks, other babies also faced serious health crises without a clear medical cause. Two neonatologists filed a judicial complaint, which started an official investigation.

A critical moment came on June 6–7, 2022, when two babies died and two others nearly died during a single shift, the Buenos Aires Herald reported. Staff and families later noticed needle marks, and in one case, a “prick in the back,” which led doctors to review the hospital’s medications and procedures.

Prosecutors said Agüero injected potassium and insulin into the babies, causing fatal heart problems, according to El País and the Buenos Aires Times. Autopsies in two deaths found high potassium levels consistent with injections, and some infants had insulin levels so extreme they are not even seen in adults with advanced pancreatic cancer. Experts said these injections had no medical reason, per the Buenos Aires Herald.

One mother said she saw Agüero take her baby, turn away, and return the child just before the infant stopped breathing, the Buenos Aires Herald reported. Eight babies survived, but one has permanent brain damage linked to insulin, and another developed severe scoliosis after a potassium injection in the back.

Agüero was arrested and charged on Aug. 19, 2022, according to La Nación.

“I am not that monster that they have created in the media. I understand the pain of the mothers, but I am not the serial killer that they made everyone believe,” she said in her final court statement, per the Buenos Aires Herald.

The trial also convicted five other hospital and provincial health officials for covering up or failing to act, according to the Buenos Aires Times and Chequeado.

Former hospital director Liliana Asís and former administrative sub-secretary Alejandro Escudero Salama got 64 months in prison, former neonatology head Martha Gómez Flores got five years, former patient-safety coordinator María Luisa Moralez got a suspended five-year sentence, and former provincial health secretary Pablo Carvajal got a suspended four-year sentence. All five are free under bond until the judgments are final.