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The company which farmed out an ICU nurse with her own ‘profound’ mental health problems is refusing to comment on how she was vetted for the job, as she is charged with murdering six people in a horror car crash last week.
Nicole Linton, 37, is in custody in California on six murder charges for killing a pregnant woman, her boyfriend, the woman’s one-year-old son, a man and two other women on August 4.
Linton inexplicably drove her Mercedes straight into traffic, slicing one of the victims’ cars in half and sending the baby in his car-seat flying into the air, at terrifying speed.
Her motive remains unclear but her attorney told a judge yesterday she has a ‘profound history’ of mental health problems which should have stopped her from getting behind the wheel of a car – let alone inside an ICU facility to treat critically ill patients.
Linton was working at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center, but she’d been sent there by AMN Healthcare, a travel nursing company that farms out skilled contractors to where they are most needed.
It became a heavily relied-upon model during the COVID-19 pandemic, when healthcare professionals in the hardest-hit cities were in short supply.
Nicole Linton, 37, is in custody in California on six murder charges for killing a pregnant woman, her boyfriend, the woman’s one-year-old son, a man and two other women on August 4
Linton sped through a red light at 90mph, plowing into cars at a busy intersection on August 4th. Six people and one unborn baby were killed
The nurse has held six roles in five different states in the last two years despite having ‘profound’ mental health problems
Since 2020, she has worked with two of the temporary nursing companies AMN and RN Network.
Amid growing concern over why she was even allowed to hold a position in the hospital with such a grave mental condition as her attorney described, AMN Healthcare refused to comment on what kind of background checks were performed when she was first given a job with them.
‘At this time, we are not able to comment on an active criminal investigation. Any further questions should be forwarded to law enforcement authorities,’ a spokesman said, refusing to be drawn on how she was vetted for her role with the travel nursing company.
RN Network did not immediately respond to inquiries.
Kaiser Permanente, the facility where she was working, put the onus on AMN.
‘Everyone at Kaiser Permanente is deeply saddened by last Thursday’s horrific crash. It’s impossible to imagine the pain those involved are experiencing. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy.
DailyMail.com uncovered crash records for two of the 13 incidents Linton is believed to have been involved in before last week’s tragedy
In both crashes, she was driving in the vehicle marked car # 3, and another driver rear-ended her
The crash records obtained by DailyMail.com were from 2013 and 2016. In neither case was Linton deemed to be at fault
The incident report from one of the crashes details how Linton (who was in vehicle 3) failed to move at a green light and was rear-ended
‘Ms. Nicole Lorraine Linton is not employed by Kaiser Permanente, rather is a nurse employed by AMN Healthcare and contracted out to work at Kaiser Permanente on a temporary basis.
‘She was not traveling for Kaiser Permanente at the time of the accident,’ a spokesman told DailyMail.com on Tuesday.
Before nursing, Linton worked as a sales manager for General Motors.
Then in 2010, she began studying to obtain her nurse’s license. There are no open complaints against her or violations listed by California’s Department of Consumer Affairs, and her California nursing license is valid.
In 2020, she worked in both North Carolina and Maryland. Since October 2020, she has worked between Atlanta and Los Angeles.
Linton appeared to be living a happy and successful life as a traveling nurse until last week’s crash. Her motive remains unclear
Linton’s home in Houston, Texas, where she is understood to have lived alone
Nicole Lorraine Linton, 37, is in custody on six murder charges as a result of Thursday’s crash
In court, prosecutors also said that Linton had been involved in 13 vehicle accidents in Texas and California.
Full details of those crashes have not yet become public.
DailyMail.com found records for two crashes in Texas. One was in 2013 and the second was in 2016.
In both cases, another driver rear-ended her car and she was not deemed to be at fault.
The 2013 crash report describes how Linton failed to move at the lights once they turned green.
One person was taken to the hospital in that accident.
Victim: Asherey Ryan, 23, died in the fiery crash with her one-year-old child and her unborn child. Tributes have poured in for the mother, who was expecting another child this year
Victim: The father of the unborn child Reynold Lester (right) also passed away in the deadly crash
Victim: One-year-old baby boy Alonzo Quintero (pictured) was also killed in the horrific collision between South La Brea Avenue and Slauson Avenue on Thursday afternoon
Linton’s friends and family will not comment on her mental health or the ‘problems’ her attorney said she was facing.
On social media, she appeared to be happy working as a traveling nurse.
She lived in a pleasant part of Houston, Texas, and some of her Facebook photos show her wearing expensive designer shoes.
The families of her victims are incredulous.
Luis Quintero, the father of one-year-old Alonzo Quintero who died in the accident, fumed on Facebook that the nurse’s $9million bail was too low.
‘You don’t even deserve a bail,’ he said.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has not given any additional details on the case.