Pennsylvania nurse who gave patients lethal or possibly lethal insulin doses gets life in prison

A Pennsylvania nurse who administered deadly or probably deadly doses of insulin to quite a few sufferers pleaded responsible to a few counts of homicide and different costs Thursday and was sentenced to life in jail.

Heather Pressdee, 41, was given three consecutive life sentences and one other consecutive time period of 380-760 years behind bars throughout a listening to in Butler, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Pittsburgh. She performed a task within the deaths of a minimum of 17 sufferers who lived in 5 well being services in 4 counties between 2020 and 2023, prosecutors mentioned.

The victims ranged in age from 43 to 104. Coworkers usually questioned Pressdee’s conduct and mentioned she steadily confirmed disdain for her sufferers and made derogatory feedback about them, authorities mentioned.

Pressdee pleaded responsible to a few counts of first-degree homicide and 19 counts of tried homicide. She initially was charged in Could 2023 with killing two nursing house sufferers and injuring a 3rd,. Additional investigation led to dozens of extra costs in opposition to her. Throughout a February listening to during which she argued along with her attorneys, she indicated that she needed to plead responsible.

The plea listening to was anticipated to final by Friday as a result of a number of folks needed to offer sufferer impression statements, officers mentioned.

Prosecutors alleged that Pressdee, of Harrison, gave extreme quantities of insulin to sufferers, some diabetic and a few not. She usually administered the insulin throughout in a single day shifts, when staffing was low and the emergencies wouldn’t immediate rapid hospitalization.

Her nursing license was suspended early final 12 months, not lengthy after the preliminary costs have been filed.

In response to courtroom paperwork, Pressdee despatched her mom texts between April 2022 and Could 2023 during which she mentioned her unhappiness with numerous sufferers and colleagues, and spoke about probably harming them. She additionally voiced related complaints about folks she encountered at eating places and different locations.

Pressdee had a historical past of being “disciplined for abusive conduct in the direction of sufferers and/or workers at every facility leading to her resigning or being terminated,” prosecutors mentioned in courtroom paperwork. Starting in 2018, Pressdee held numerous jobs at western Pennsylvania nursing properties and services for brief durations, based on the paperwork.