The family of a man who died after a nurse gave him a lethal dose of insulin last year has sued the nursing home facility where he lived for wrongful death over a nurse who worked there and is charged with administering the insulin.
Nicholas “Nick” Cymbol lived at the Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he died in May 2023, the lawsuit says.
Cymbol appears to be one of 19 people, across five health care facilities, that Heather Pressdee, a unit manager, is accused of dosing with insulin outside the proper protocols, as CrimeOnline reported. Seventeen of the patients died, and some were not diabetic and did not require insulin.
In the charging documents against Pressdee, a patient identified as “N.C.” matches the information about Cymbol provided in the lawsuit, filed by his sister as administrator of his estate.
The lawsuit says that “Pressdee set her sights on Nick Cymbol, a 43-year-old diabetic with an anorexic brain injury living at Sunnyview, after the death of another patient on April 17.
Cymbol Complaint by kc wildmoon on Scribd
Cymbol’s condition required close monitoring of his glucose level and frequent administration of insulin when needed, the lawsuit says.
“Though Mr. Cymbol was well-liked by the staff at Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Pressdee routinely insulted, berated, bullied, and abused Mr. Cymbol, just as she had done to other residents,” the lawsuit says. “Staff at Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center were aware that Pressdee disliked Mr. Cymbol and that she held the belief that people with a quality of life like Mr. Cymbol did not deserve to live.”
The lawsuit claims that Pressdee frequently berated Cymbol and called him names and that despite complaints by other staff members, the nursing home did nothing, including after Pressdee allegedly told other employees that Cymbol “was going to be the next one to die” just days before his death.
The lawsuit provides in detail what happened from the day before Cymbol’s death until he died:
“During morning rounds, Mr. Cymbol’s LPN recorded his blood sugar as 167 mg/dL at approximately 6:30 a.m. Notably, Mr. Cymbol’s blood sugar was to be checked six times daily, per his physician’s order. However, just 30 minutes later, at 7:00 am, Pressdee documented that Mr. Cymbol’s blood sugar had allegedly risen to 380 mg/dL.
“At this time, Pressdee injected Mr. Cymbol with 60 units of insulin. Shortly after Pressdee injected him with 60 units of insulin, Mr. Cymbol’s blood sugar plummeted. According to Pressdee, Mr. Cymbol “crashed faster than expected”, and she tried to reverse his drop in blood sugar by administering multiple doses of Glucagon.
“Initially, Pressdee refused to call 911 on Mr. Cymbol’s behalf — it was not until staff members confronted her that 911 was called. Mr. Cymbol was transferred by ambulance to Butler Memorial Hospital that morning. Mr. Cymbol remained at Butler Memorial Hospital for much of the day, and he was eventually discharged back to Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center later that evening.
“Despite the fact that he was hospitalized earlier in the day for hypoglycemia, the Sunnyview nursing staff failed to monitor Mr. Cymbol’s blood sugar or monitor his condition once he had returned from the hospital. During the evening of April 30, 2023 and into the early morning of May 1, 2023, Mr. Cymbol’s condition gradually declined.
“The Sunnyview staff failed to notify Mr. Cymbol’s physician of the gradual decline in his condition overnight. In fact, the last time that Mr. Cymbol’s blood sugar was documented was shortly after he arrived back at Sunnyview from Butler Memorial Hospital during the evening of April 30, 2023.
“Contemporaneously with the overall decline in his condition, Mr. Cymbol’s blood sugar plummeted overnight. Because Sunnyview nursing staff failed to monitor Mr. Cymbol’s blood sugar overnight, they failed to take any corrective measures to stabilize his blood sugar.
“Shortly after 4:00 a.m. on the morning of May 1, 2023, a nurse at Sunnyview, Lori Barbier, RN, found Mr. Cymbol in a hypoglycemic crisis and foaming at the mouth. At this point, Nurse Barbieri went to check Mr. Cymbol’s Dexcom device, which
had not been tracking his blood sugar due to a “sensor error.”“Nurse Barbieri checked Mr. Cymbol’s blood sugar via finger stick and discovered that his blood sugar was 23 mg/dL, indicative of critical hypoglycemia. It is unknown how long Mr. Cymbol was in this state, as the Suanyview nursing staff failed to monitor his blood sugar or check on him throughout the night.
“After finding Mr. Cymbol in this condition, Nurse Barbieri called Mr. Cymbol’s sister, Melinda Brown, advising her that she should come to the facility as her brother’s condition was rapidly deteriorating. Ms. Brown immediately left for the facility after getting off the phone. However, at approximately 4:30 a.m. on May 1, 2023, as she was walking out her front door to head to Sunnyview, Ms. Brown received a phone call from a nurse at the facility advising her that her brother had passed away.”
Pressdee was criminally charged in May, and her nursing license was suspended in July last year, according to WPVI. She is due in court for a hearing on May 2.
The lawsuit charges Sunnyview was negligent in its hiring of Pressdee — and continuing to keep her employed — among other complaints. It charges corporate negligence, vicarious liability, and wrongful death and asked for compensatory and punitive damages “in an amount in excessof the jurisdictional arbitration limits.”
According to Law&Crime, neither the company nor its attorneys responded to a request for comment.
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[Featured image: Heather Pressdee/police handout]
