A registered nurse in Pennsylvania faces fees she administered deadly or probably deadly doses of insulin to a large number of sufferers — together with a 104-year-old — at well being care amenities during the last 3 years, prosecutors introduced Thursday.
Heather Pressdee, 41, have been accused in May of killing two nursing house sufferers and injuring a 3rd. She used to be arraigned Thursday at the further counts, together with two new murder fees, and waived a initial listening to.
She used to be being held with out bail on the Butler County prison.
James DePasquale, a protection lawyer for Pressdee, stated the brand new fees weren’t sudden and that they’re running to keep away from a possible demise penalty.
“At our urging, she has been very cooperative with the government,” DePasquale stated.
The newest fees allege mistreatment of 19 further sufferers at 5 care amenities since 2020. Along with two counts of first-degree homicide, she used to be additionally charged Thursday with 17 counts of tried homicide and 19 counts of overlook of a care-dependent individual.
Pressdee, a resident of Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, allegedly gave over the top quantities of insulin to sufferers, some diabetic and a few now not. Pressdee usually administered the insulin all through in a single day shifts when staffing used to be low and the emergencies would now not suggested fast hospitalization, consistent with state Attorney General Michelle Henry.
Seventeen sufferers she cared for — ranging in age from 43 to 104 — have died, Henry stated. Her nursing license used to be suspended previous this 12 months, now not lengthy after the preliminary fees have been filed.
The alleged crimes came about whilst Pressdee labored as a registered nurse at 5 other amenities: Concordia at Rebecca Residence, Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation (Guardian Elder Care), Quality Life Services Chicora, Premier Armstrong Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, and Sunnyview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.
“The allegations against Ms. Pressdee are disturbing,” Henry said in a statement. “It is hard to comprehend how a nurse, trusted to care for her patients, could choose to deliberately and systematically harm them.”
According to court documents, Pressdee sent her mother numerous texts between April 2022 and May of this year in which she discussed her unhappiness with various patients and colleagues and spoke about potentially harming them. She also voiced similar complaints about people she encountered at restaurants and other places outside of health care facilities.
Charging documents from May say that Pressdee had a history of being “disciplined for abusive behavior towards patients and/or staff at each facility resulting in her resigning or being terminated.” Pressdee had held a host of jobs at nursing houses and amenities in western Pennsylvania starting in 2018 for brief classes of time, consistent with the paperwork.
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