CHICORA, Pa. — A nurse registered in Pennsylvania is facing charges after she reportedly administered lethal or possibly lethal doses of insulin to multiple patients at healthcare facilities over the last three years, according to prosecutors.
On Thursday, Pennsylvania State Attorney General Michelle Henry said that additional charges were filed against Heather Pressdee, 41, for the mistreatment of 19 additional patients at five different care facilities between 2020 and 2023. She is accused of administering excessive amounts of insulin to these 19 patients including so, who are diabetic and use insulin. 17 patients in total died while they were under her care.
Pressdee was accused of administering lethal doses of insulin, WPXI reported.
The five facilities included: 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, according to The Associated Press.
The new charges include two counts of first-degree murder, 17 counts of attempted murder and 19 counts of neglect of a care-dependent person, according to the attorney general’s office per CNN.
The ages of the victims were 43 to 104, according to the AP. In total, she is charged with mistreating 22 patients.
Pressdee’s nursing license was suspended earlier this year, according to the AP. This happened after the initial charges were filed.
“Pressdee would often work the medication cart, administer insulin during the night shift when staffing was lowest and the facilities were quiet,” the complaint reads. “Pressdee often took steps to ensure her victims would expire prior to shift change so that they wouldn’t be sent to the hospital where her scheme could be discovered through medical testing such as C-peptide tests,” according to CNN.
“The allegations against Ms. Pressdee are disturbing. It is hard to comprehend how a nurse, trusted to care for her patients, could choose to deliberately and systematically harm them,” Henry said. “The damage done to the victims and their loved ones cannot be overstated. Every person in a medical or care facility should feel safe and cared for, and my office will work tirelessly to hold the defendant accountable for her crimes and protect care-dependent Pennsylvanians from future harm.”
In May, Henry charged Pressdee with two counts of murder, a count of attempted murder, a count of attempted aggravated assault, three counts of neglect of a care-dependent person and three counts of reckless endangerment.
Pressdee reportedly confessed to intentionally administering a lethal dose of medication to three patients at the Quality Life Services nursing facility in Chicora, according to CNN.
She is charged with murder in the death of a 55-year-old man and an 83-year-old man. A third victim, a 73-year-old man, survived after he was hospitalized, Henry said.
“The allegations in this case outline the callous abuse of incredibly vulnerable patients by a professional nurse,” Attorney General Henry said. “As the charges indicate, these were deliberate and intentional acts perpetrated by a care-giver who was trusted to care for these victims. Be assured, my office will zealously pursue justice for the families of those who were killed, as well as the third victim who is fortunate to have survived.”
Investigators learned that the men were under Pressdee’s care when they received overdoses of insulin that led to medical emergencies. Two of the three meant were not diabetic, Henry said. One Man died on Dec. 4, 2022, and the other on Dec. 25, 2022. The other victim survived months prior on Aug. 31, 2022.
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