Pennsylvania nurse Heather Pressdee, accused of murdering two patients with fatal doses of insulin, confesses to trying to kill NINETEEN other people

By James On Nov 3, 2023

A Pennsylvania nurse is trying to avoid the death penalty after allegedly killing her patients with lethal amounts of insulin.

Former nurse Heather Pressdee, 41, is facing more murder charges after allegedly doling out lethal doses of insulin – which has been linked to 17 deaths of nursing home patients under her care.

The Pennsylvania-based healthcare worker is charged with two new counts of murder, 17 new counts of attempted murder and 19 counts of neglect of a dependent.

Pressdee, from Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, was accused of killing two patients in May but has since confessed to trying to kill 19 others at five different rehabilitation centers across the US since 2020.

Her lawyers admitted they were only trying to avoid the death penalty.

Heather Pressdee, 41, of Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, is trying to avoid the death penalty after allegedly killing her patients with lethal amounts of insulin

Pressdee is charged with two new murders, seventeen new attempted murders and nineteen counts of neglect of a dependent person

Her lawyers said: “What our goal in this case has been from the beginning is to avoid the possibility of the death penalty. I think we are very close to that.”

That’s what the lawyers – James DePasquale and Phil DiLucente – said ABC news : “What our goal in this case has been from the beginning is to avoid the possibility of the death penalty,” DePasquale said. “I think we’re very close to that.”

DiLucente said: ‘Within the next 90 days we will be able to provide more comment on how this case will proceed, but it involves a significant number of people and it is a very serious matter. Probably one of the most serious cases I’ve seen in my career.’

Pressdee claimed she killed the patients because she felt sorry for their “quality of life.”

The deranged killings took place at Quality Life Services, a skilled nursing facility in Chicora where Pressdee worked as a nurse.

The two patients Pressdee admitted to killing were a 55-year-old nonverbal man with a serious medical condition and an 83-year-old man in hospice care.

The first incident, according to Law&Crime, occurred in August 2022. Heather Pressdee clocked out of work and two hours later, Quality of Life Services staff found the 73-year-old.

According to an affidavit, the man began having seizures and suffering from severe hypoglycemia shortly after Pressdee provided him with direct care.

Officials said: “The alleged crimes occurred while Pressdee was employed as a registered nurse at the following facilities: Concordia at Rebecca Residence, Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation, Quality Life Services Chicora, Premier Armstrong Rehabilitation and Nursing Center and Sunnyview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.

‘Pressdee typically administered the insulin during night shifts, when staffing levels were low and the emergencies would not result in immediate hospital admission.’

The former nurse’s victims ranged from 43 to 104 years old.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Michselle Henry said, “The allegations against Ms. Pressdee are disturbing. It is difficult to understand how a nurse, who has the confidence to care for her patients, could choose to deliberately and systematically harm them.

‘The damage to the victims and their loved ones cannot be overestimated. Everyone in a medical or healthcare facility should feel safe and cared for, and my office will work tirelessly to hold the defendant accountable for her crimes and protect healthcare-dependent Pennsylvanians from future harm.”

Pressdee is also said to have been punished since 2018 for abuse towards patients and/or staff at eleven health institutions, and she had resigned or been dismissed from there.

The deranged murders took place at Quality Life Services, a skilled nursing facility in Chicora, where Pressdee worked as a nurse.

A typical room at the Quality of Life Services facility in Chicora, PA, where Pressdee had worked

After police arrived at her home in May, Pressdee apparently admitted responsibility.

She told officers that the surviving victim, who had been in COVID isolation, had asked Pressdee to “kill” him.

Pressdee also told investigators that she felt sorry for the two men who later died and that their “quality of life was not good” before she injected them with insulin.

In a statement, Quality Life Services said: “Quality Life Services is shocked and devastated to learn that the charges against Ms. Pressdee by the Attorney General’s office include alleged illegal activities that occurred at our QLS – Chicora facility.

“We will continue to cooperate fully with the Public Prosecution Service as necessary in the investigation and prosecution of this case.

“We can assure our community, our residents, our families and our staff that all residents of Quality Life Services – Chicora are safe and receiving appropriate care and services.”

Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas, an organ in your body that helps with digestion.

Insulin helps your body use glucose — which comes from sugar in the food and drink you consume — for muscle energy.

Too much insulin can result in overdose, causing severe hypoglycemia, resulting in loss of consciousness, coma, severe and irreversible brain damage, or death.

Pressdee worked at Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation (Guardian) from April 2021 to February 2022. During her time there, five deaths were reported that reportedly resulted from her lethal insulin doses.

On August 9, 2021, a 58-year-old woman who did not have insulin-dependent diabetes died. She was hospitalized for low blood sugar after becoming unresponsive, but returned to Belair and was found dead the next day. The nurse admitted to giving the 58-year-old 60 units of insulin less than two hours before her death.

Pressdee gave a 68-year-old at the same facility 100 units of insulin, which may have led to her death on September 28, 2021.

A non-diabetic man at Belair died at age 79 after Pressdee administered 100 units on November 16, 2021.

A 92-year-old woman – described as “pleasant and focused” just two days before her death – died on December 28, 2021, and Pressdee admitted to giving her 60 units of insulin.

Quality of Life Services – Chicora was the facility where Pressdee worked as associate director of nursing from May 2022 to November.

Two deaths were reported at this facility – a 92-year-old man and a 99-year-old woman – and a third victim was hospitalized but survived the incident.

At Premier Armstrong Rehabilitation and Nursing Center – where Pressdee worked from November to December 2022 – a 90-year-old woman died and an 85-year-old woman was taken to hospital but survived after the nurse gave them both 60 units of insulin. .

Concordia at Rebecca Residence was the facility where Pressdee worked from October 2020 to April 2021. She allegedly used a false name and telephone number as a job reference. An 89-year-old woman died at the facility on December 17 and Pressdee admitted to administering 60 units of insulin and another 60 units before she died.

Sunnyview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center — where Pressdee was hired as a unit manager in January 2023 — saw the deaths of six patients linked to Pressdee’s alleged insulin crimes.

WHY DO DIABETICS INJECT INSULIN?

Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas, an organ in your body that helps with digestion.

Insulin helps your body use glucose — which comes from sugar in the food and drink you consume — for muscle energy.

Glucose is initially absorbed from food through the intestines and enters the blood, where the body decides what to do with it.

Insulin makes this decision by regulating how much sugar moves from the blood into the blood cells, muscles, or fat cells, where it can be used or stored.

But diabetes can mean that the pancreas doesn’t make insulin, not enough, or that the insulin it makes doesn’t work properly.

This can cause blood sugar levels to become dangerously high or low – causing fatigue, hunger or thirst, or in extreme cases, a life-threatening coma.

To prevent this and prevent blood sugar levels from getting too high, diabetics can inject insulin into their bodies as a medicine to lower their blood sugar levels.

Source: Diabetes .org