Medhaps

Nurse Serial Killer Faces Civil Trial

Posted on 04. Mar, 2010 in News Stories

Some of you may remember this case from seven years ago, where a nurse named Charles Cullen was convicted of killing multiple patients in 10 different hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Now, he and some of the hospitals he worked for face civil charges for wrongful death.

The families of the deceased are suing the hospitals for failing in their duties to report to authorities the dangerous activities of Cullen. The hospitals defend themselves by saying that when the cases were viewed in isolation, they were not severe enough to warrant reporting. Now having put all the pieces together, they see how severe the situation really was–but hindsight is always 20/20.

Here’s a little background on Charles Cullen:

From 1998 to 2003, Cullen managed to kill dozens of patients, mostly through lethal injections of drugs such as digoxin and epinephrine. While the total number is uncertain, the count goes as high as 45 victims that he killed, not including attempted murders.

Many of the hospitals he worked at grew suspicious of him and conducted internal investigations, usually resulting in termination of his employment. However, he would simply move on to the next hospital. Because of the heavy demand for nurses, he was easily able to hop around like this for so many years. He claimed that his motive was to end the suffering of the patients that he killed.

Throughout his life, Cullen also attempted to commit suicide multiple times and underwent several psychiatric treatments. He was finally arrested and charged with murder in December 2003. He is currently serving 18 consecutive life sentences in a New Jersey state prison.

You can read more about this news story at NJ.com.

Tags: Murder, New Jersey, Nurse, Pennsylvania