A former Pennsylvania nurse was sentenced to hundreds of years behind bars Thursday after admitting to murdering and attempting to murder her patients with lethal doses of insulin.
Various relatives of those patients spoke during the hearing in which Heather Pressdee pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and 19 counts of criminal attempt to commit murder, the Pennsylvania attorney general's office said. One family member called the defendant "evil personified," while another said she had wrongly tried to play God, according to The Associated Press.
"The defendant used her position of trust as a means to poison patients who depended on her for care," Attorney General Michelle Henry said. "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."
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
Pressdee was ordered to three consecutive life sentences for the murder charges plus a consecutive term of 380 to 760 years for the other 19 counts, Henry's office said. She won't be eligible for parole, and the guilty plea allows her to avoid the death penalty.
Prosecutors say Pressdee was involved in at least 17 patient deaths at five different care facilities from 2020 to 2023, though the 41-year-old's guilty pleas are in regards to 22 total victims.
During that time, the former nurse is alleged to have given the care facility patients — some of whom were diabetic and others who were not — excessive amounts of insulin. This was typically done overnight when fewer staff members were working and an emergency wouldn't prompt immediate hospitalization, Henry's office said.
"If Pressdee sensed the victim would 'pull through' there is a pattern of her taking additional measures to try to kill the victims before they could be sent to the hospital by either administering a second dose of insulin or the use of an air embolism to ensure death," the criminal complaint, which also said Pressdee admitted to harming patients with intent to kill, said.
Crime
Nurse charged with killing 2 patients admits to trying to kill 17 more
Pressdee was initially charged in May 2023 for killing two nursing home patients and injuring a third, but in November, Henry's office announced dozens of other charges related to the other victims.
Search warrants executed after her arrest uncovered numerous texts in which Pressdee told her mother she was going to hurt somebody, including one in 2022 that said she "drugged him already and I don't know how he is awake" regarding a male resident and others talking about how she was going to "stab" people, court documents show.
One of Pressdee's supervisors once disciplined the former nurse for dosing insulin without doctor's orders and that she "had concerns that Presdee was harming residents and took actions internally," the documents state.
