• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Former nurse pleads guilty to murdering 13 patients

Compliance Monitor, May 5, 2004

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Compliance Monitor!

Sanction screening is a well-known responsibility for compliance officers, but in some cases, tracing an employee's past wrongdoings isn't foolproof.

Such was the case of former nurse Charles Cullen, who pleaded guilty April 29 to murdering 13 patients and attempting to kill two others at hospitals in two states.

The guilty plea is Cullen's attempt to save himself from the death penalty by striking a deal with prosecutors. According to a story in The New York Times, prosecutors will not seek the death penalty, and Cullen will cooperate with authorities in both states.

Cullen admitted last December that he had killed between 30 and 40 patients during the 16 years he worked as a nurse at 10 hospitals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Cullen was charged with a murder and two attempted murders in Somerset County in December and initially said he intended to plead guilty. It took three months for him to do so, mostly because prosecutors from seven counties had to agree to the details of a guilty plea.

He faces consecutive life terms for the murders with no eligibility for parole for more than 120 years under terms of the agreement. A sentencing date was not set.

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Compliance Monitor!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive