The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles GraeberMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is one of the most chilling serial killer crime stories ever told. Charles Cullen was a Nurse for 16 years at 10 different hospitals. During that time it was proven that he killed up to 40 patients by injecting IV bags with drugs that would kill them with overdoses. Digoxin and Insulin were his 2 favorite drugs of choice. Both drugs, when given in lethal amounts causing agonizing death to the victims so Cullen can never claim to be in the mercy killer category.
Cullen’s personal life was a mess as you’ll learn from the book but many of us have had messed up personal lives and never killed anyone so his crimes can’t be defended or excused on any level.
After his arrest Investigators think it’s possible that he could have been responsible for the deaths of up to 400 people making him the most prolific serial killer in American history. Unfortunately proving the other deaths has become an almost impossible task but the investigation is ongoing.
The sad and criminal part of this story is that all of the hospitals suspected and some knew that Cullen was guilty of the drug overdoses but hospital administrators dealt with the problem by firing him and not reporting it because they feared the criminal and civil litigation. The cover up by the Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, NJ was the worst of the cases. Not a single administrator from Somerset or any of the hospitals involved for that matter were ever charged or indicted.
Detectives Tim Braun and Daniel Baldwin deserve a tremendous amount of credit for bringing Cullen to justice. The investigation took months of sorting through complex medical records, time cards and drug records to finally nail Cullen.
Amy Ridgway a Nurse and a Co-worker of Cullen became a confidential informant and was another key to finally stopping Cullen’s murder spree. Without her help it’s likely that Cullen would have killed more people.
I highly recommend this book. The way the story was told was spine tingling and to its credit is one of the best edited books about crime I’ve come across.
One thing is certain you’ll come away feeling different about the medical profession. It’ll make you understand just how venerable your life is and how medical professionals and hospital administrators are flawed human beings that may not always have your best interest in mind.
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