A former Pennsylvania nurse who admitted to administering excessive doses of insulin to nearly two dozen patients, 17 of whom died, was sentenced Thursday to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder and other charges.
The former nurse, Heather Pressdee, 41, administered high doses of insulin to 22 patients at five Pennsylvania rehabilitation centers between 2020 and 2023, prosecutors said. The patients she was accused of mistreating ranged in age from 43 to 104.
Ms. Pressdee was initially charged in May 2023 with murdering two nursing home patients and injuring a third. But in November, the state attorney general’s office showed up with extra charges after prosecutors said Ms. Pressdee admitted to trying to kill a total of 19 patients.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, first-degree murder charges were filed against Ms. Pressdee only in cases where “physical evidence” was available. Attempted murder charges were filed, according to the release, in cases where “victims survived an excessive dose of insulin or the cause of death could not be determined.”
At her arraignment in November, Ms. Pressdee’s lawyer, Phillip P. DiLucente, said her goal was to avoid the death penalty. The death penalty is legal but rarely used in Pennsylvania.
Ms. Pressdee pleaded guilty Thursday to three counts of first-degree murder and 19 counts of attempted murder. As part of the plea deal, she was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences and another consecutive prison term of 380 to 760 years for attempted murder, the attorney general’s office said in a statement .
“The defendant used her position of trust as a means to poison patients who depended on her for their care,” Attorney General Michelle Henry said in the release. “This plea and life sentence will not bring back the lives lost, but it will ensure that Heather Pressdee never has another opportunity to cause further harm.” »
In a criminal complaint filed in November, prosecutors said Ms. Pressdee administered excessive amounts of insulin to patients, usually during night shifts when staffing was low.
Some patients were diabetic, others were not. If a patient did not die, Ms. Pressdee would take additional steps to kill the person, by giving a second dose of insulin or “using an air embolism,” when one or more air bubbles block a vein or bloodstream. artery, according to the complaint.
Prosecutors detailed a history of disturbing statements Ms. Pressdee made on social media and in conversations with colleagues, including: “When is she going to die already?”
In another wrongful death lawsuit, nursing home staffers noticed that Ms. Pressdee had demonstrated “troubling behavior” and that the health of patients in her care would “deteriorate in unexpected ways.” “.
According to the lawsuit, several staff members began calling her the killer nurse.
Mr. DiLucente did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to local media, the families of Ms. Pressdee’s victims filled the Butler County courtroom on Thursday to provide victim impact statements.
‘There’s no justice for this,’ Melinda Brown, whose brother, Nicholas Cymbol, 43, was among Ms Pressdee’s victims. told ABC affiliate WTAE Thursday. “She will get justice when she meets her maker.”
