Pennsylvania Nurse Charged With Murder After Allegedly Killing Patients With Insulin

Heather Pressdee, a 40-year-old nurse in western Pennsylvania, has been taken into custody and charged with killing two of her patients and inflicting a serious injury on a third one. She administered dangerous doses of insulin to all three, and only one of those patients was diabetic.

Pressdee committed these crimes at Quality Life Services, a skilled nursing facility where she was employed as a nurse. PEOPLE reported that she worked there from May 23, 2022, until Nov. 28, 2022, and she administered the medication while the patients were under her care.

Pressdee’s murder victims were a 55-year-old man and an 83-year-old man who both died in December 2022. Her third victim was 73 and survived a dose of insulin that could have been fatal on August 31, 2022.

On May 25, 2023, Attorney General Michelle Henry announced that Pressdee, who resided in Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, had been charged with two counts of homicide, a count of attempted murder, a count of aggravated assault, three counts of neglect of a care-dependent person, and three counts of reckless endangerment.

Pressdee was taken into custody that same day and is now being held without bond at Butler County Prison.

Henry said, “The allegations in this case outline the callous abuse of incredibly vulnerable patients by a professional nurse. As the charges indicate, these were deliberate and intentional acts perpetrated by a caregiver who was trusted to care for these victims.”

When investigators asked Pressdee about the deaths prior to her arrest, she admitted that she did administer the lethal doses of insulin, and she explained that she did it deliberately since she hoped "they would slip into a coma and just pass away," reported CBS News. She said she was concerned they had a low quality of life.

This wasn’t the first time Pressdee had an issue at work. According to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, she had been disciplined at nearly a dozen other medical facilities in the past five years. She was accused of abusing patients or staff at each of the nursing jobs she had since she obtained her registered nurse permit on July 3, 2018.

Heather Pressdee’s case is being investigated by the Office of Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Control Section and Bureau of Narcotics Investigation, and it remains active. Anybody who might have concerns about the care they or a loved one received from Pressdee is asked to contact the Office of Attorney General’s tip line at 888-538-8541.