Ex-Air Force nurse acquitted of killing patients

Afternoon Update

National News

Discussion

November 21, 2009

The Associated Press Associated Press Sat Nov 21, 2009, 06:39 PM EST

Ex-Air Force nurse acquitted of killing patients

SAN ANTONIO — A military judge in Texas has found a former Air Force nurse accused of killing three terminally ill patients not guilty of murder.

Capt. Michael Fontana was accused of administering excessive dosages of painkillers to speed the patients' deaths.

Presiding over the court martial Saturday, Col. William Burd said Fontana was not guilty on all counts.

Speaking after the ruling, Fontana said he never regretted the treatment he gave and that he hopes he can return to nursing.

Fontana has been in the Air Force since 2006 and served a tour in Iraq in 2007. He worked as an intensive care nurse at Wilford Hall, which primarily serves military personnel and retirees but provides emergency and trauma care to some civilians.

Text Only

National News

Wagging tails replace sad eyes in Westminster ads
Pet lovers won't have to look away anymore when those heart-wrenching TV ads appear during the Westminster dog show — the ones with the pitiful little faces peering out from behind those rusted bars of a cage and wondering "how I ended up in here."

February 10, 2012
Stocks fall at the open as Greek deal is held up
U.S. stocks opened lower Friday after Greece's bailout deal was put on hold, a day after it seemed that the country had satisfied its creditors.

February 10, 2012
AP sources: Obama revamping birth control policy
Retreating in the face of a political uproar, President Barack Obama on Friday will announce that religious employers will not have to cover birth control for their employees after all, The Associated Press has learned. The administration instead will demand that insurance companies will be the ones directly responsible for providing free contraception.

February 10, 2012
Family plucked from Pacific after boat capsizes
Three family members attempting their first voyage across the Pacific in a sailboat were left adrift in rough seas hundreds of miles from land when their mast broke in high winds.

February 9, 2012
FBI file: Steve Jobs was considered for government post
FBI background interviews of some people who knew Apple founder Steve Jobs reveal a man so driven by power that he sometimes lost sight of honesty.

February 9, 2012 1 Photo
Florida mogul, facing trial, adopts his girlfriend
The story already had people's attention: A multimillionaire polo magnate was accused of causing a drunken-driving wreck that killed a young man. But now, with his criminal trial approaching, a strange twist has raised even more eyebrows: He has adopted his 42-year-old girlfriend.

February 9, 2012
Emergency exercise preceded Ind. fair disaster
High winds. Lightning. Hail. A severe thunderstorm warning. A huge crowd waits for country duo Sugarland to take the stage.

That exact scenario ahead of last summer's deadly stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair was eerily foreshadowed just a month earlier during an emergency exercise that involved the fair's director and numerous city and state officials.

February 9, 2012
Tribe suing beer companies for alcohol problems
An American Indian tribe sued some of the world's largest beer makers Thursday, claiming they knowingly contributed to devastating alcohol-related problems on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

February 9, 2012
LA school in sex abuse scandal reopens
Children returned Thursday to an elementary school where the entire staff was replaced after the arrests of two former teachers on charges of committing lewd acts with students in class.

February 9, 2012
Official: States get No Child Left Behind waiver
President Barack Obama on Thursday will free 10 states from the strict and sweeping requirements of the No Child Left Behind law, giving leeway to states that promise to improve how they prepare and evaluate students, The Associated Press has learned.

February 9, 2012
More National News Headlines