An American nurse who administered lethal doses of insulin to several patients over three years in an attempt to kill them was sentenced Saturday to 380 to 760 years in prison. She was responsible for the deaths of at least 17 patients in five healthcare 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 accused of administering excessive amounts of insulin to 22 patients, including some who did not have diabetes, during night shifts when few people were working. Most patients died shortly after receiving the dose, or some time later. Her victims were 43 to 104 years old.
An insulin overdose can lead to hypoglycemia, increase your heart rate and even lead to heart attacks.
She was initially charged with murdering two patients in May last year and the police investigation that followed led to multiple other charges against her.
The victims' families told the court that the killer nurse was “trying to play God” with her sick and elderly patients who were not ready to die. In the past, colleagues had noted her behavior and said that she showed hatred towards her patients and often made derogatory comments about them.
In text messages to her mother, Pressdee discussed her accident with patients, colleagues and even people she met at restaurants. She often said she wanted to harm them.
In court she insisted she was guilty. When one of her lawyers asked her why she pleaded guilty, Pressdee replied, “Because I'm guilty.”
“She's not sick. She's not crazy. She is the personification of evil. “I looked Satan in the face the morning she killed my father,” a relative of the victims told the court.
Although she was punished for her behavior, she worked numerous jobs in nursing homes from 2018 to 2023, when her license was suspended after initial charges.
Pressdee is one of many other healthcare workers convicted of killing their patients. Charles Cullen killed at least 29 nursing home patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania by administering lethal doses of insulin. William Davis, a Texas nurse, injected air into the arteries of four patients after they underwent heart surgery.