Heather Pressdee, a nurse, poisoned 22 patients with insulin, killing many of them, authorities said. (Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General)
A Pennsylvania nurse previously facing a slew of felony offenses for allegedly killing and trying to kill patients in her care was recently charged again – to the tune of dozens of new criminal charges.
Heather Pressdee, 41, stands accused of intentionally administering excessive doses of insulin to 22 patients between 2020 and her arrest in May of this year, according to the state attorney general’s office. She was initially accused of killing two patients and attempting to kill a third while she worked at Quality Life Services in Chicora – a small town in the western part of the state.
In a Thursday press release, Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry accused her of poisoning 19 additional patients.
In total, 17 of those 19 patients died while in Pressdee’s care, law enforcement alleges. The defendant is alleged to have administered her patients large amounts of insulin. Some of those patients – spanning five different care facilities – required insulin to treat diabetes, while some of them were not diabetic at all.
“The allegations against Ms. Pressdee are disturbing,” Henry said in the press release. “It is hard to comprehend how a nurse, trusted to care for her patients, could choose to deliberately and systematically harm them. The damage done to the victims and their loved ones cannot be overstated. Every person in a medical or care facility should feel safe and cared for, and my office will work tirelessly to hold the defendant accountable for her crimes and protect care-dependent Pennsylvanians from future harm.”
The alleged insulin poisoning incidents occurred while Pressdee was employed as a registered nurse at Concordia at Rebecca Residence, Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation (Guardian), Quality Life Services Chicora, Premier Armstrong Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, and Sunnyview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.
Authorities believe the defendant typically administered the excessive insulin during her overnight shifts when staffing at each facility was on the lower end and when the resulting medical emergencies would not immediately result in hospitalization.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Pressdee allegedly admitted to some of the incidents but said “she felt bad for their quality of life and she had hoped that they would just slip into a coma and pass away,” according to the initial criminal complaint filed in the case.
The kind-hearted excuse, however, was rubbished by prosecutors.
Investigators alleged Pressdee had a history since 2018 of “being disciplined for abusive behavior towards patients and/or staff,” resulting in her getting fired or resigning from various facilities.
The victims ranged in age from 43 to 104, authorities said.
She was later sued in a wrongful death lawsuit by the family members of one of her alleged victims, 68-year-old Marianne Bower.
Pressdee was previously 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.
On Thursday, the defendant was charged with two counts of murder in the first degree, 17 additional counts of attempted murder, and 19 additional counts of neglect of a care-dependent person.
The attorney general’s office explained the charging decisions are based on whether “physical evidence” was available “to support the cause of death.”
“Attempted murder is charged in the cases where the victims either survived the excessive dosage of insulin, or the cause of death could not be determined,” the press release explains.
Alberto Luperon contributed to this report.
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