A Pennsylvania nurse is facing murder charges after prosecutors say she killed two patients and seriously injured a third person last year.
Heather Pressdee, 40 was disciplined or fired from a dozen places of employment over her career before she started working at Quality Life Services, a nursing facility in Butler County, Pennsylvania, according to court records.
Pressdee was charged with two counts of homicide, one count of attempted murder, one count of aggravated assault, three counts of neglect of a care-dependent person, and three counts of reckless endangerment in connection to the incidents that took place over a four-month period, Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry announced Thursday.
Prosecutors said Pressdee, a registered nurse, gave insulin to two patients who were not diabetic and to another patient who was diabetic.
The slain victims −a 55-year-old man and an 83-year-old man − died on Dec. 4 and on Dec 25, prosecutors said.
The victim who survived after emergency hospitalization, a 73-year-old man, was administered a potentially-lethal dose of insulin on Aug. 31, prosecutors said.
Pressdee was arrested Wednesday at her home Natrona Heights located 23 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, prosecutors said.
“The allegations in this case outline the callous abuse of incredibly vulnerable patients by a professional nurse,” Henry said. “As the charges indicate, these were deliberate and intentional acts perpetrated by a care-giver who was trusted to care for these victims.”
Previous discipline for ‘abusive behavior’
State records show Pressdee’s registered nurse license was issued July 31, 2018 and was slated to expire at the end of October. It was renewed in August 2021 and was marked active on the Pennsylvania Department of State website Friday.
According to a criminal complaint, Pressdee was disciplined at 11 former nursing jobs for “abusive behavior toward patients or staff, and either resigned or was fired from each facility,” the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported.
In addition to Quality Life Services, the outlet reported, court papers show Pressdee previously worked at the following facilities −all in Western Pennsylvania:
- Orchards of Saxonburg, Butler
- Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital, Harmarville
- Allegheny Valley Hospital, Natrona Heights, Harrison
- UPMC Passavant, McCandless
- Concordia at Rebecca Residence, West Deer
- Guardian Healthcare, operating as Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, Lower Burrell
- Woodhaven Care Center, Monroeville
- Platinum Ridge Center for Rehabilitation & Healing, Brackenridge
- Orchards of Saxonburg, Butler
- Premier Armstrong Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Kittanning
- Sunnyview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Butler
It was not immediately known if Pressdee had obtained an attorney in the case.
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