(ReliableNews.org) – Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare industry. They’re the ones who spend the most time with patients, comforting them and providing care. Just a few days before Nurses Week, a former nurse was sentenced for murder.
On May 2, Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry announced Heather Pressdee pleaded guilty to 19 charges of criminal attempt to commit murder, and three counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors accused the nurse of injecting 22 patients with lethal doses of insulin at facilities in Armstrong, Westmoreland, Allegheny, and Butler counties. Seventeen of the victims died.
Pressdee reached a plea agreement with the attorney general. When she entered her pleas, she responded to the questions with a single word. The Associated Press reported that one of her attorneys asked her why she was pleading guilty, and she said, “Because I am guilty.”
Families gave victim impact statements at the hearing. One of them spoke about the death of their father and told the court that Pressdee wasn’t sick or insane, she was “evil personified.” They said they “looked into the face of Satan [themselves] the morning she killed [their] father.”
Melinda Brown, the sister of deceased victim Nick Cymbol, told the court that there was “no justice” for the family. She said they wouldn’t receive justice until Pressdee “meets her maker.”
The judge sentenced Pressdee to three consecutive life sentences plus 380 to 760 years in prison. Attorney General Henry said Pressdee “used her position of trust as a means to poison patients” in her care. She went on to say that the life sentence would not bring the patients back but it would make sure Pressdee was never able to harm anyone else.
This plea and life sentence will not bring back the lives lost, but it will ensure Heather Pressdee never has another opportunity to inflict further harm. I offer my sincere sympathy to all who have suffered at this defendant’s hands. pic.twitter.com/1DUWVSZmmO
— Michelle Henry (@PAAttorneyGen) May 2, 2024
The AG later posted a message on X, formerly Twitter, that included a montage of the victims. She offered the families her sincerest condolences. Henry also thanked the “agents and investigators” who worked on the case to “uncover the defendant’s terrible acts.”
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