Nurse 'broke patient's ribs because of stress'

Hamuro is also suspected of having done the same thing to five other patients, aged between 75 and 99, at her hospital.

TOKYO, March 12, 2010 (AFP) - Japanese police have arrested a nurse they accuse of deliberately breaking an elderly patient's ribs because she was stressed, and say she is a suspect in five similar cases.

Saori Hamuro, 26, was arrested Thursday, a police spokesman said.

"She is suspected of having broken the ribs of an 85-year-old patient... by pressing down on her chest with both her hands," cracking 12 ribs in the attack in early 2009.

Hamuro is also suspected of having done the same thing to five other patients, aged between 75 and 99, at her hospital in the western Japanese town of Sayo.

According to the Sankei Shimbun daily, she told police: "I did it because I was frustrated with my relationships with my colleagues."

All six patients are now dead, but their broken bones were not directly linked to their deaths, police said.