CHILLICOTHE, Mo. (AP) – A northern Missouri prosecutor has asked police to conduct another investigation into claims in several lawsuits that a respiratory therapist caused the deaths of at least seven patients.

Livingston County’s prosecuting attorney Adam Warren says he doesn’t think “a thorough investigation has ever been completed.”   Previous prosecutors determined there wasn’t enough evidence to file charges in the 2002 deaths at Hedrick Medical Center in Chillicothe.

The hospital and the therapist, along with their attorneys, have denied the allegations.

In seeking another investigation, Warren mentioned the eight civil lawsuits filed on behalf of the families of seven patients who died and an eighth patient who had to be resuscitated. Warren also noted the findings of the coroner, who has identified nine suspicious deaths.