The nurse, who worked for the local health authority ASL, is suspected of administering the pain-relief drug without a medical prescription and despite the newborn child being well, police said during a press conference.
“When we arrested her, she did not react. She was very cold,” they added.
The alleged incident happened on the night between 19th and 20th March. Police said the child had been in good health and was due to be discharged the next day.
The newborn was taken to the intensive care unit at Verona’s Ospedale Civile, where opioids were found in its blood.
The woman also allegedly entrusted her colleagues to administer morphine without a prescription, “just to calm babies down”, in the belief that there were no real risks, La Repubblica reported.