"Evil Personified": Nurse Who Killed 17 Patients Jailed For Over 700 Years

A US nurse who administered lethal doses of insulin to several patients over three years in an attempt to kill them was on Saturday sentenced to 380-760 years in prison. She was responsible for the deaths of at least 17 patients in five health facilities between 2020 and 2023, the court was told. 

Heather Pressdee, a 41-year-old nurse in Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, and 19 counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to life in prison. 

Pressdee was charged with giving excessive amounts of insulin to 22 patients, including some who weren't diabetic during overnight shifts when few people were working. Most of the patients died soon after receiving the dose, or sometime later. Her victims were aged 43 to 104 years.

An insulin overdose can lead to hypoglycemia, raise your heartbeat and even lead to heart attacks.

She was initially charged in May last year for killing two patients and the police investigation that followed led to multiple other charges against her.

Victims' families told the court the killer nurse "tried to play God" with her ill and elderly patients who were not ready to die. In the past, coworkers had flagged her conduct, saying she displayed hate for her patients and would often make derogatory comments about them.

In text messages to her mother, Pressdee discussed her unhappiness with patients, colleagues and even people she met at restaurants. She often spoke about wanting to harm them. 

In court, she pressed to please guilty. When one of her lawyers asked her why she was pleading guilty, Pressdee replied, “Because I am guilty.”

“She is not sick. She is not insane. She is evil personified. I looked into the face of Satan myself the morning she killed my father," one of the victims' family members told the court.

While she was disciplined for her behaviour, she worked numerous jobs in nursing homes from 2018 till 2023 when her license was suspended after initial charges

Pressdee is among several other healthcare workers who have been convicted of killing their patients. Charles Cullen, killed at least 29 nursing home patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, by administering deadly doses of insulin. William Davis, a Texas nurse injected air into the arteries of four patients after they underwent heart surgery.