According to Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Michelle Henry, “These were deliberate and intentional acts committed by a caregiver who was trusted to care for these victims.”
Authorities in Pennsylvania reported that a former registered nurse was detained this month on suspicion of homicide and other offenses.
According to a news release from the Attorney General’s office on May 25, Heather Pressdee of Natrona Heights is suspected of giving patients excessive doses of insulin, which ultimately resulted in the deaths of two patients and the hospitalization of a third.
Pressdee, 40, was charged with three counts of reckless endangerment, three counts of neglect of a care-dependent person, two counts of homicide, one count of attempted murder, one act of aggravated assault, and two counts of putting another person in risk.
It’s unknown whether Pressdee has admitted guilt or hired a lawyer to represent her in court. According to court documents, she is being held in Butler County Prison without a bond and will be back in court on June 6.
From May 23, 2022, until Nov. 28, 2022, Pressdee worked as a registered nurse at Quality Life Services, a skilled care facility in Chicora. Prosecutors allege that during this time, she administered too much insulin to three patients, causing hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar.
A 55-year-old male and an 83-year-old man perished on December 4 and December 25, respectively, after receiving deadly insulin doses while under Pressdee’s care, the complaint claims. According to Henry’s announcement, a third alleged victim, a 73-year-old male, was saved after “emergency hospitalization” by the “potentially-lethal dose of insulin he received on Aug. 31, 2022.”
According to Henry, two of the three males did not have diabetes.
Henry said that the nurse, whose job it was to look after her patients, intentionally killed them.
The AG stated in the announcement that “the allegations in this case outline the callous abuse of extremely vulnerable patients by a professional nurse.” As the accusations show, a caregiver who was trusted to take care of these victims committed these premeditated and intentional crimes. You can rest confident that my office will vigorously work to bring the third victim, who was fortunate to survive, and the relatives of the deceased victims to justice.
According to the complaint, an investigation was launched after a relative of one of the alleged victims stated Pressdee had given patients in her care insulin incorrectly.
In response to questions regarding the dead alleged victims, Pressdee allegedly stated that she “felt bad for their quality of life and she had hoped that they would slip into a coma and pass away,” according to the lawsuit. Pressdee is accused of telling a nurse working there that one of the patients who ultimately passed away, J.B., “would be better off dead.” Pressdee is named in the lawsuit.
Pressdee allegedly admitted to investigators that the patient who survived, identified in the complaint as E.A., was in COVID isolation and had asked her to “kill him” before she administered “one syringe, approximately 100 units, of long-acting insulin” to him in the stomach.
Authorities claimed in the complaint that the woman “stated that he began showing symptoms and that she did not address the symptoms, and the oncoming shift sent him to the hospital.”
According to the complaint, Pressdee has performed short-term nursing assignments at around 11 facilities since 2018, including Quality Life Services. According to the authorities, they “identified a pattern of Pressdee being disciplined for abusive behavior towards patients and/or staff at each facility resulting in her resigning or being terminated.”
According to authorities, the inquiry is still ongoing. Call the Office of Attorney General’s tip line at 888-538-8541 if you have any questions about the treatment your loved one got while under Pressdee’s care.
