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NJ nurse faces murder charges after claiming he killed 30-40 patients

Hospital Safety Connection, December 26, 2003

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Authorities charged a New Jersey-based nurse with murder after he claimed he killed 30 to 40 terminally ill patients to relieve their suffering, the Associated Press reports.

Charles Cullen, 43, told authorities he administered drug overdoes to put patients out of their misery over the last 16 years in nine hospitals and a nursing home in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Investigators are going over patient records to confirm Cullen's claims, but their evidence indicates he may be telling the truth.

If so, this could be one of the biggest hospital murder cases in recent United States history. In 1987, Donald Harvey, a nurse's aide, entered guilty pleas in Ohio and Kentucky to killing at least 34 people, most of them patients.

Authorities charged Cullen with one count each of murder and attempted murder, but more charges could follow. Cullen had a checkered career, bouncing from hospital to hospital. Most recently, he worked at Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, NJ. Cullen was charged with murder in the death of the Very Rev. Florian J. Gall, a Roman Catholic vicar who died June 28 at Somerset; he was charged with the attempted murder of a 40-year-old woman at the same hospital.

Somerset officials notified prosecutors after the hospital fired Cullen on October 31. An internal review found questionable lab results involving six of Cullen's patients, all of whom had serious medical problems.

Cullen obtained a nursing license in New Jersey in 1987 and in Pennsylvania in 1994. His work history includes the following stops:

* In August 1997, he was fired from Morristown Memorial Hospital for "poor performance," according to a hospital spokeswoman.

* After a brief period of employment in 1998, Liberty Nursing Center in Allentown, PA, fired Cullen for "failure to follow company procedures." The facility said no harm came to any patients.

* In late 1998 and early 1999, Cullen worked at Easton (PA) Hospital. County officials are now investigating whether he was responsible for the death of a patient there.

* Cullen worked in the burn unit at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Bethlehem, PA, from December 1998 to April 2000. The hospital is investigating burn unit patient deaths, but had found no evidence of wrongdoing.

* From June 2000 to June 2002, Cullen worked at St. Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem, PA, and resigned amid allegations that he had at least twice hidden unopened heart and blood pressure medications in a safety bin for used needles.

* Cullen worked at Sacred Heart Hospital in Allentown, PA, for 18 days in June 2002 and was fired for having "interpersonal problems" with other employees.

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