In addition to being charged with murder and attempted murder, a 41-year-old nurse who was reportedly responsible for the deaths of patients by administering lethal doses of insulin is also suspected of abusing 19 other individuals at five separate medical facilities.
Attorney General of Pennsylvania Michelle Henry’s office said on Thursday, Nov. 2, that Heather Pressdee had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, seventeen counts of attempted murder, and nineteen counts of neglecting a person in need of care. In May, she was charged with three charges of reckless endangerment, one count of attempted murder, one crime of violent assault, a pair of charges of homicide, and one act of abuse of a care-dependent person.
The accusations made in May are related to alleged offenses that happened in 2022 at Quality Life Services. Pressdee is accused of giving men 55, 83, and 73 years old too much insulin in December 2022 and August 2022, respectively. The 73-year-old guy survived but needed emergency medical attention, while the 55- and 83-year-old patients passed away as a result. Only one of the patients had diabetes, according to the attorney general’s office.
When Pressdee worked as a certified nurse for Concordia at Rebecca Residence, Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation (Guardian), Quality Life Services Chicora, Premier Armstrong Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, and Sunnyview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center between 2020 and this year, further inquiry revealed that Pressdee did similar things to other victims. The patients were between the ages of 43 and 104, with some having diabetes and others not.
Disturbing details and shocking allegations against a nurse accused of killing 17 patients
According to the Department of the Attorney General, Pressdee frequently “ingested the insulin during overnight shifts when staffing was low and the emergencies would not prompt immediate hospitalization.”
Pressdee is accused of mistreating 22 patients and killing at least 17 of them while they were under her care.
According to the attorney general’s office, the murder and attempted murder charges are from incidents “where the victims of the crime either survived due to a high dosage of insulin, or the cause of death could not be determined,” while the first-degree murder charges are from cases where “physical verification is available to support the cause of death.”
Pressdee was charged by the Honorable Maura Palumbi on Thursday, Nov. 2. She is still being detained without bond at the Butler County Prison.
“The allegations against Ms. Pressdee are disturbing,” Henry stated in a statement. It is difficult to understand how a nurse who is supposed to be caring for her patients could decide to consciously and methodically hurt them.”