A Pennsylvania nurse killed her patients with large doses of insulin.

A former Pennsylvania nurse accused of killing two patients with massive doses of insulin admitted that she tried to kill 19 others, reports New York Times.

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In May, Heather Pressdy, 41, admitted to authorities that she intended to kill three patients in her care with large doses of insulin, leading to her arrest on two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

Now the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office says Pressdy has admitted to trying to kill 19 other patients with insulin at five different rehabilitation centers across the state back in 2020 and as recently as this year. In all, 17 patients died under Pressdee's care, according to authorities.

Capital punishment

The new charges dated Nov. 2 include two additional counts of murder, 17 counts of attempted murder and 19 counts of neglect of a supervised person.

Pressdee's attorney, Philip P. DiLucente, said she has not yet entered a plea, adding that he is "cooperating with the prosecution team and its investigators."

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“The goal from the beginning of these cases was to avoid imposition of the death penalty,” DiLucente explained in an email. “We are committed to this goal.”

The death penalty is legal, although rarely used in Pennsylvania. The state has not executed a prisoner since 1999, and Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, has called on lawmakers to abolish the death penalty.

“The allegations against Pressdee are troubling,” Michelle Henry, the state's attorney general, said in a news release. “It is difficult to understand how a nurse entrusted with the care of her patients could intentionally and systematically harm them.”

According to the Attorney General's Office, first-degree murder charges were brought against Pressdy only in cases where there was "physical evidence." The 17 attempted murder charges were brought in cases where "the victims either survived an excessive dose of insulin or the cause of death could not be determined."

Nurse victims

She is accused of abusing 22 patients ranging in age from 43 to 104 years old.

One of the victims was 68-year-old Marianne Bauer, who died in September 2021 under Pressdee's care at the Belair Health and Rehabilitation Center in Lower Burrell in the western part of the state.

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For two years, family members believed Bauer died of respiratory failure. But in September, investigators told them that Pressdee had confessed to killing Bauer.

The Bauer family wants to know how Pressdee managed to work at 2018 rehabilitation facilities over five years starting in 11.

Belair Health and Rehabilitation Center said it could not comment on Pressdee's case "due to privacy laws and ongoing litigation."

“Policies and procedures are in place to verify the qualifications and background of potential employees, and we take our responsibility to ensure the safety of our patients seriously,” the center noted.

“When will he die?”

According to the lawsuit, staff at the center began noticing that Pressdee was exhibiting “disturbing behavior” and that the health of patients under her care was “deteriorating unexpectedly.”

Several employees began calling her the “killer nurse,” the lawsuit says.

That same year, the state Department of Health Services investigated the center after it discovered a pattern in which patients were showing signs of acute diabetes complications, according to the lawsuit. Pressdee told Health Department investigators that she did not call the facility's physician to treat any such patients, a violation of center policy.

The criminal complaint lays out a history of disturbing statements that Pressdee made over several years, both on social media and in conversations with colleagues at rehab centers.

Witnesses told investigators that Pressdee bad-mouthed people under her care and made comments like, “When is he going to die?”

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Pressdee typically administered insulin doses during night shifts when staffing was light and emergencies did not require immediate hospitalization.

If Pressdee felt the victim would "survive," she would take additional measures to kill the person, "either administering a second dose of insulin or using an air embolism to ensure death," according to the lawsuit.

Bauer's family, said their lawyer John Pierce, "sickened" earlier this year when they learned of Pressdee's confession.

“Today’s charges do not lessen the pain,” he said. “But this is the next step in bringing justice to this case, not only for their family, but for the other families involved.”

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