Witness: Clinic Wanted to Blame Someone for Deaths

LUFKIN (AP) — A former co-worker of an East Texas dialysis nurse on trial for allegedly killing five patients says she believes the clinic the two women worked for wanted to blame someone for the deaths. Prosecutors say Kimberly Saenz killed five patients in Lufkin by injecting bleach into their dialysis lines. Saenz’s attorney, Ryan Deaton, says officials at the facility, the DaVita Dialysis clinic, have fabricated evidence against his client. The Lufkin Daily News reports that during testimony Thursday, former DaVita employee Connie Baker told jurors about what she felt was a threatening comment made after the first two deaths in 2008 by a regional manager, who allegedly said, “I will not go down for this. I will take someone with me.” Saenz could get the death penalty if convicted.