The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Graeber (2013) 364.152 G
Over his 16-year period, nurse Charles Cullen is believed to have killed over 400 hospital patients. His nursing career began at a burn ward where Charles worked hard, was always available, and was likable enough. As Charles moved between various hospitals and states he would immediately start patients. Sadly, it was not a case of mercy killings; most of the victims were not that ill.
During Charles’ career, hospital personnel had their suspicions about the deaths, but no one wanted to bring unwanted attention to their hospitals. The murders seemed innocent enough; people had heart attacks and sugar imbalance issues all the time. Death in a hospital was not that unusual. Finally, an admin officer took it into her own hands to start an investigation. Once she began looking into the issue, other hospitals began to question the sudden deaths that had happened there while Charles was employed. Others wondered how the hospital’s leadership could have just looked the other way.
Soon Charles became a suspect, but
no evidence could be found. It took one brave nurse who had once been Charles’
friend to uncover the truth. She began to wear a wire and tape phone
conversations with Charles in hopes he would finally confess to these crimes. Charles
is finally arrested but only convicted of 29 of the 40 deaths to which he confessed.
This book is both sad and
disturbing. How was this killer able to kill for so long? I hated this story
and loved it all the same.
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