According to the National Library of Medicine, it is estimated that an average of 35 Americans are killed by healthcare workers per year. The true numbers are likely higher, given that these crimes are often missed for years. Most convicted of healthcare serial murders are charged with fewer murders than they admit to.
We have an earlier podcast episode on British nurse Lucy Letby who has been convicted of murdering seven infants and attempting the murder of seven others between June 2015 and June 2016.
THE HEATHER PRESSDEE CASE
Heather Pressdee was a Pennsylvania nurse and she has been convicted of murdering three of her patients and has been connected to the deaths of 17 more.
We will start with background into Heather. She was born Heather Irene Pressdee on August 28, 1982.
From 2003 to 2004, she attended the Community College of Allegheny County, although she did not graduate. Articles report that after this, Heather worked as a vet tech for around 14 years. She worked mainly at the Pittsburgh Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center. She told police that she provided critical care to animals, including anesthesia, and she also practiced euthanasia.
Heather went back to school between 2018 and 2018 and graduated with an associate’s degree in nursing.
Between July 2018, when her nursing license was issued, and 2023, when she was arrested, she worked at 12 different nursing facilities after she either resigned from them or was terminated.
Much of this information comes from the criminal complaints in the case – they are linked in the blog. Heather was investigated for “abusive behavior.” At Encompass Health Rehabilitation of Harmarville, where she worked from Oct. 1, 2018, through April 21, 2019, she was disciplined for administering insulin outside of a physician’s orders.
Investigators said her employee file noted that she was reprimanded on Dec. 7, 2018, after an insulin error. A corrective action plan dictated she meet with supervisors to review insulin protocols. A supervisor at Encompass told investigators she was concerned Heather was harming residents and “took actions internally.” It’s not clear what those actions were.
At least twice, Heather made up the names of past colleagues to use a reference when getting another job, following her terminations/resignations. She also provided a phone number that belonged to a relative. That relative would later confirm to police that they went along with Heather’s story and acted as a reference for her.
The Attorney General’s Office was made aware of Heather’s crimes when they received a referral in late 2022. This was regarding a patient that had been under Heather’s care.
An investigation revealed that Heather’s spree began in 2020. She has been said to have administered “lethal and potentially lethal doses of insulin” to at least 22 patients at facilities in Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler and Westmoreland counties, prosecutors said. Seventeen of the patients “died very soon” or “sometime later” after receiving the insulin doses, according to Attorney General Michelle Henry’s office.
She typically administered the insulin during overnight shifts, when staffing was low and the emergencies wouldn’t draw immediate attention.
Her victims ranged in age from 43 to 104.
Police would later search Heather’s phone and they found nearly 20 text messages to her mother involving threats of violence against aides, nurses, facility residents, and fast-food workers.
“Can I kill this man at Taco Bell,” one alleged text from April 6, 2022, read.
“I’m gonna murder already,” another one read, dated June 10, 2022.
Other text messages discussed her patients and co-workers.
In a Sept. 2, 2022, text message, Heather allegedly told her mother that she was “gonna murder my aides.” In a message a few days later, she complained about a patient who was yelling, according to the affidavit.
“I drugged him already and I don’t know how he is awake,” the message read.
On May 12, 2023, Heather complained to her mother that a patient was “driving me nuts” because he was following her around.
“But I may kill this resident,” the text message read. “I need to set some sort of boundary with him.”
The first two victims she was charged with murdering were 55-year-old James Bartoe and 83-year-old Joseph Campbell, both of whom had died on December 4 and 25, 2022, respectively.
Her third victim was 43-year-old Nicholas Cymbol, who died on May 1, 2023.
Heather ended up pleading guilty to both avoid a trial and to take the death penalty off the table. She pleaded guilty to three charges of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. When one of her lawyers asked her why she was pleading guilty, Heather replied, “Because I am guilty.”
Families of some of the victims filed wrongful death lawsuits.
The family of Nicholas Cymbol said that Heather “routinely insulted, berated, bullied and abused” him at Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Butler.
They described Nicholas as a “brittle diabetic” who had an anoxic brain injury, blindness and neuropathy. The suit alleged that Heather would prevent other nurses from feeding or giving him water and would use derogatory terms in reference to his brain injury.
Heather was also accused of saying another patient, identified only as J.B. in a criminal complaint, would be “better off dead.” That patient, who was a nonverbal at Quality Life Services, was hospitalized twice in 2022 for low blood sugar before he died on Dec. 4, 2022.
In May 2024, Heather was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for the murders. She was also ordered to subsequently serve another 380 to 760 years in prison for the attempted murders.
Heather’s attorneys Phil DiLucente and James DePasquale said that the goal for their client was to avoid the death penalty. “This was very hard to accomplish with this many deaths and attempted murder charges that either resulted in death or impairment,” Phil DiLucente told USA TODAY. He also said that Heather “wanted to confess and wanted to show contrition” regarding her crimes.
“Today is a very emotional day,” the attorney said. “There’s a tremendous amount of sad stories that were given by the victims’ family members … and Mrs. Pressdee did shed a tear several times, as well as apologize at the very end in front of an open court.”
The attorney also said that Heather “truly believed” that “she was helping” her patients. This stemmed from her previous employment as a vet tech, where she euthanized animals.
According to the Daily Beast, Heather told investigators that one of her female victims “looked at her like an animal would.” One man “had no quality of life,” she said, and she “felt bad” for another. One “needed to die.”
Heather believed she was ending the suffering of a lot of people by doing what she did, but now “she knows that that’s not the case and she apologized for her actions,” Phil DiLucente said.
Elizabeth Simons Ozella – whose mother, Irene Simons, was one of the deadly overdose victims – said she would “never forgive Heather for what she did. She took someone from this earth that she had no right to take, and she played God when she didn’t have that right.”
The Attorney General’s Office also made a statement following the sentencing.
“The defendant used her position of trust as a means to poison patients who depended on her for care. This plea and life sentence will not bring back the lives lost, but it will ensure Heather Pressdee never has another opportunity to inflict further harm. I offer my sincere sympathy to all who have suffered at this defendant’s hands.”
THE MEGAN HAINES CASE
Nurse Megan Haines murdered two elderly patients in Ballina, Australia by injecting them with insulin. Her victims died in May 2014 – they were Marie Darragh (82) and Isabella Spencer (77).
Megan was born in South Africa in September 1967. This information about Megan’s upbringing is from government documents about the case: She was born and raised in South Africa during the apartheid regime. Her mother was white and her father was of Indian background. Her father was violent and, according to the offender, sexually abused her mother and one of her sisters. When the offender was 6 years old, her parents separated and she and her two sisters went to live with her mother. The offender has had little contact with her father since.
The offender recalls some difficulties growing up in South Africa due to her mixed-race appearance. She recalls that her mother rejected her in favour of her two sisters because they were white, whereas the offender was not. The offender recalls difficulty making friends at high school because other students “didn’t understand people of mixed race”.
She trained and practised as a nurse there before moving to Australia in December 2000. She became a registered nurse here in 2001. Megan has said that she moved to Australia due to the high crime rate in South Africa and lack of flexible working arrangements.
Complaints were made against Megan while she was working at a hospital in Victoria in December 2005. The complaints were investigated and she was found guilty of professional misconduct in May 2007. Another complaint was made after Megan threatened to access patient information. She was also investigated for minor assault, said to be slapping or pushing a patient. She was reprimanded at the time. Megan has said that during this time she was getting little sleep as she was a single mother. She said that she was experiencing loneliness and that she had a number of one-night stands. She recalls drinking heavily in her 30s before, during and after work “just to get through the day”.
In July 2007 and into 2008, further complaints were made against Megan. Her nursing registration was suspended pending an investigation.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, two patients at a facility in Caulfield, Victoria were given unnecessary insulin. After the women were drugged, their jewellery had been stolen. Megan was the only nurse on duty on both occasions.
“[It’s] a pretty well-off area,” a former colleague of Megan’s said in an interview with Fairfax Media.
“So, most of the patients just had these beautiful old diamond rings and things.
“And they were given insulin right at the end of the shift so they wouldn’t be roused by the next person rostered on and find it missing.”
One of the women involved had a security guard posted outside of her room because she was terrified that it could happen again.
“This poor patient, they didn’t know what had happened, so they put a guard outside her door until it was worked out,” the former colleague said.
“Everyone was a suspect at that point.”
As Megan was the nurse on charge, her home was searched. They did not find any jewelery, but did find marijuana. This meant she was charged with drug possession.
The investigation was ongoing until December 2011 when she was again found guilty of professional misconduct. She was reprimanded again and was ordered to supply satisfactory employer reports every three months to regulatory authorities. During the time that the investigation took, Megan did not seek renewal of her nursing registration and she became unregistered.
In February 2012, she successfully applied for re-registration. In April 2013, the conditions of her registration were amended and she only had to supply employer reports every six months.
Megan had three children over the years – all of the children had different fathers.
Megan gained employment in Ballina, New South Wales in 2014. She worked at the St Andrew’s Aged Care Facility. She worked initially on probation and was supervised during shifts. She was then offered the chance to work the night shift, which meant she would work from 10.15pm-6.30am.
In terms of security, the facility seemed to be well equipped. After 5pm, you could not get in unless you had a swipe card or a nurse buzzed you in electronically. Each staff member had a personalised swipe card which gave them access to necessary sections of the facility.
This is information about the set up of the facility, from the caselaw documents – available on the blog.
In the Boronia ward, which accommodated high care residents suffering from dementia, there was one care service employee on duty. In the Dianella ward, which catered for residents with high care needs, there was one care service employee on duty. In charge of the night shift was a registered nurse, who was for most of the night shift stationed in the Dianella ward. However, the registered nurse was responsible for all of the residents in the complex. Care service employees were not authorised to administer, nor were they responsible for, the administration of medication in either the Boronia or Dianella wards. In the hostel area they could administer some routine prescription medications.
Before we get into the events of 10 May, 2014, we will give you some information about the two victims.
Isabella Spencer was born in November 1936. She was 77 at the time of her death. Isabella had moved to St Andrews after she suffered a stroke in December 2013. The stroke left her paralysed on the left-hand side. Isabella was mainly bed-bound and required staff assistance to move around. She was cognitively intact. She was not insulin dependent. Isabella resided in Room 4 in the Dianella 1 ward.
Marie Darragh was born in September 1931 and was 82 when she died. She moved to St Andrews in February 2011 as she had a number of health issues. She too resided in the Dianella 1 ward. She was also cognitively intact and was not insulin dependent.
On the night of May 9, 2014, Megan was the only staff member who had a swipe card with access to the medication rooms in the Dianella and Boronia wards.
At 11.15pm that night, the Director of Care, Wendy Turner, came to meet with Megan. Megan was told that she had been complained about by three residents of the care facility. Wendy told Megan about two of the residents by name – Isabella and another female, Marjorie Patterson. Megan was told that she had to attend a meeting on May 13, 2014 in regards to these complaints. Megan was given documents about the complaints and was also told that they could result in disciplinary action. Megan was told not to approach either Marie or Marjorie and she was not to enter their rooms to provide treatment, unless she was accompanied by another employee.
Marie’s complaint was regarding a request that she had made for some medication to treat a genital itch.
“She said ‘I needed some cream applied to my fanny … and I asked her to apply some cream to which Megan said cover yourself up you look disgusting, switched the light off and left’.
Wendy Turner would speak later about the complaints. She said another patient reported being handled “roughly” by Megan
Isabella reported that Megan had refused to take her to the bathroom and told her to “piss in her pad” instead.
Court documents indicate that Isabella was not named as the complainant that night by Wendy. It is believed that Megan assumed that Isabella made the complaint.
After the meeting concluded, Megan was left alone in the Dianella ward for two separate one hour periods – between midnight and 1am, and again between 4am – 5am. This happened as the care service employee rostered in the ward would move to another ward to assist with the rounds.
It is believed that Megan entered the medication room during the earlier period and drew up two injections of insulin. It is thought that she then injected both Isabella and Marie.
It seems that patients were checked during rounds based on their needs. Marie was not ordinarily checked, however Isabella was. Megan was the employee to check Isabella that night and she told her colleague that no attention was needed.
Marjorie Patterson would later tell authorities that she had woken up on the night of May 9 to Megan giving her paracetamol, which had never happened before.
During the next round of checks, Megan told her colleague that Isabella was ‘okay.’ This was between 4-5am.
Megan finished her night shift at around 6.30am on 10 May 2014. She did not report anything out of the ordinary during her handover.
At 6.50am, staff went into Marie’s room to wake her. She was unconscious and it was apparent that she was in a deep coma. She died at 11.30am on May 10.
At 7.30am, staff went to wake Isabella for breakfast. She was also unconscious and she died at around 11.50am that day.
Both women, having been injected with significant quantities of insulin in circumstances where neither was insulin dependent, had fallen into a hypoglycaemic coma. Hypoglycaemia, if it is not reversed and if it remains for a period of some hours, leads to irreversible brain damage and death.
It seems like police investigated the case quite quickly. On May 15, 2014, Megan’s residence was searched by authorities. She had not worked since the night shift when the women passed and she had not been informed of their deaths. While her home was being searched, Megan was told that it was because police were investigating the unexpected and suspicious deaths of Isabella and Marie. She was not told the cause of the deaths.
Megan called a friend on the morning of May 15, and told them that the women had died because they were given the wrong medication.
Megan resigned from the facility a few days after the women died.
During the investigation into this case, a former partner of Megan’s came forward. He said that they had been watching a CSI-style show in 2009 and that Megan scoffed at the plot. She said that she knew how to kill someone and never get caught.
“It is easy,” she said. “Inject them with insulin because the body continues to metabolise insulin so it looks like natural causes.”
During the investigation it also emerged that Megan had no contact with her two youngest children. She said she maintained a good relationship with her eldest child. In 2016, the children were aged 25, 14 and 6.
There are no records of Megan being diagnosed with any mental health conditions. She told police that in 2016 she was ‘not feeling anything’ and that she was generally healthy.
During the investigation, Megan did not tender a report from a psychologist or psychiatrist about any factors that may have led to her committing these crimes.
Megan was arrested in July 2014 and charged over the nursing home murders.
While she was detained, a relative visited Megan in jail. Megan told her to remove some jewelery from behind a power point/electrical outlet in her home
Megan was 49 when she was given a maximum sentence of 36 years following a 2.5 week trial in 2016.
“I am shocked and absolutely appalled she got her nursing registration back,” Marie’s daughter Charli said.
“I can’t fathom it. I am lost for words.”
Justice Peter Garling said Haines abused her position of trust.
“Her conduct was deliberate and calculating. It was a gross breach of trust and a flagrant abuse of her power,” he said.
“She clearly abused that position of trust. I consider this to be a significant aggravating factor.
Megan will be eligible for parole in 2041. She will be 73 years old.
SOURCE LIST
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/03/nurse-convicted-killings-heather-pressdee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Pressdee
https://www.medpagetoday.com/nursing/nursing/107189
https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/5850c28ae4b058596cba29e0