The area around the Tomah VA Medical Center in Tomah, Wis., where Beth Holtz was working as a hospice nurse when she allegedly took away a patient’s oxygen (Google Maps).
A Wisconsin nurse took away oxygen from a hospice patient and made him suffer for roughly 90 minutes after finding the 75-year-old on the floor, according to police. She allegedly told another staffer, “It’s easier to do death paperwork than falls paperwork” and “I was hoping he would die during my shift.”
Beth Holtz, 53, is charged with one count of intentionally abusing a patient in connection with the oxygen removal.
A criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime this week describes how Holtz “did intentionally abuse” the male patient and caused him “great bodily harm” while depriving him of air for an hour and a half on Aug. 17, 2025.
Holtz was a registered nurse assigned to the Hospice Ward at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center when the incident occurred, according to the complaint, which was filed by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department and the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office.
The patient, who suffered from pulmonary fibrosis and had an order requiring continuous oxygen, was found “lying on the bathroom floor without his oxygen connected to him,” the complaint says. Holtz told police she sat with him and placed his oxygen back on him, but then noticed that he appeared “weak” and “was dying,” per the complaint.
“It is ok to go,” Holtz recalled telling the man, in reference to dying, according to the complaint. “Holtz removed patient’s oxygen supply … as she sat with him. Holtz stated that her intentions for removing patient’s oxygen were not to hasten his death, but was because he was restless and … she thought he was dying.”
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Holtz allegedly admitted to making the comment, “It’s easier to do death paperwork than falls paperwork” to an aide, according to the complaint. But Holtz denied making the comment, “I was hoping he would die during my shift.”
Holtz claimed that she was hoping the man would die “for his own sake due to his struggling and not for her convenience,” the complaint says. “Holtz stated she made the comments because she had a ton of paperwork to do, and it was end-of-shift.”
Asked about the comments she made about death paperwork being “easier to do,” Holtz allegedly told police, “I was just being goofy.”
Holtz claimed that when she first encountered the man, he was “staring off” and “struggling” to sit on the edge of his bed.
“I thought that he was gonna die at any moment … the way he was looking and reaching and staring off and breathing,” Holtz told police, according to the complaint. “Holtz stated she sees these actions in people that are passing away.”
The patient was left without oxygen for a period stretching from approximately 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m., according to police. During that time, a nursing assistant allegedly asked Holtz whether she wanted the patient’s oxygen put back on.
“No, he’s so close,” Holtz allegedly responded.
The complaint says another nurse later found the patient with black-and-blue lips, struggling to breathe and reaching into the air. When oxygen was restored, he began breathing and acting normally.
“She said that patient immediately began to warm up, his color returned, and he began to breathe normally,” according to the complaint.
Holtz admitted to police that she “should have known better” because the victim had “been on oxygen forever,” the complaint notes.
She also, however, claimed, “It really doesn’t matter whether it’s on or not. I mean, people are gonna die regardless if it’s on,” in reference to the oxygen, according to police and prosecutors.
Holtz agreed to a polygraph test and confessed during it that “part of her did want him to pass sooner to be at peace,” according to the complaint. “She stated she had not done this before and that it was one time mistake,” the complaint says.
The patient died six days later on Aug. 23, 2025.
Holtz could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
The post ‘I was hoping he would die’: Hospice nurse took away man’s oxygen, said it was ‘easier to do death paperwork than falls paperwork’ after finding him on floor: DA first appeared on Law & Crime.
