As part of our continuing coverage of places you probably don’t want to seek medical care if you can help it, Jonathan Watts writing for the UK’s The Guardian:

A Brazilian doctor who has been charged with the murder of seven patients is being investigated in almost 300 other cases, according to health authorities investigating what could prove one of the world’s worst serial killings.

Virginia Soares de Souza is accused of cutting the oxygen to people on life-support systems and administering lethal doses of muscle-relaxing drugs in the Evangelica Hospital of Curitiba.

Watts states that no motive is currently known. While looking if there was more information from other sources, I did notice the titles of several other news stories said that she did it to “free up hospital beds,” but none of those stories actually included that in the body text itself so that seems potentially questionable.

Juliana Barbassa, AP:

In Brazil, where natural childbirth fell out of favor years ago, more than half of all babies are born via cesarean section, a figure that rises to 82 percent for women with private health insurance.

…

The reasons behind Brazil’s high rates are many. Experts say a longstanding interventionist approach to vaginal births made them more painful and stressful than necessary. All this gave C-sections a reputation as being a more predictable, safe, painless and modern way to deliver.

Pretty bizarre situation in Brazil. A C-section is still abdominal surgery, so it’s not this totally magic thing.