FULL TEXT:
TRAGEDY: A patient’s death, which police have said was caused
by registered nurse giving him a lethal narcotic, led authorities to exhume
five other bodies.
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - A coroner said Tuesday that four deaths
at a Fort Wayne nursing home were homicides after ruling that three more
patients were given a lethal dosage of drugs.
Cheryl May, a former registered nurse at the Courtland
Health and Rehabilitation Center, has been charged with murder in the death of
Philip Harmon, 69, last Aug. 17. She has been held without bond in the Allen
County Jail since her arrest Jan. 22.
May also was an employee of the nursing home when the three
other patients died, but Allen County Coroner Phillip E. O'Shaughnessy did not
say whether she provided care to any of them.
The coroner identified the three as Shirley D. Shirey, 61;
Nola K. Venderly, 81; and Kenneth N. Stahl, 85. All died between Nov. 10, 1996,
and Aug. 30.
Harmon's death, which police have said was caused by May
giving him a lethal dose of a morphine-based narcotic, led authorities to
exhume the bodies of five other people who died at Courtland while May worked
there.
O'Shaughnessy said autopsies and toxicological studies have
revealed lethal drug doses in three of the bodies. The coroner said tests are
being performed on the remaining two bodies that were exhumed. No further
exhumations are scheduled, he said.
O'Shaughnessy said all test results have been turned over to
police and the prosecutor's office.
May's attorney, Stanley Campbell of Fort Wayne, did not
immediately return a telephone message Tuesday seeking comment. A nursing home
representative also did not Immediately return a call seeking comment.
O'Shaughnessy would not comment on the type of drug found in
the remains of the three victims, or on whether it had been prescribed for
them. The five bodies were exhumed, he said, because authorities had evidence
indicating foul play might have been responsible for their deaths.
The Indiana State Board of Nursing suspended May's license
in February until February until criminal proceedings against her are resolved.
[“Coroner says three deaths at nursing home suspicious,” The Star
Press (Muncie, In.), May 13, 1998, p. 4B]
***
FULL TEXT: Fort Wayne – A former nurse who admitted responsibility
in a patient’s death might serve less than a year of home detention after being
handed a 4-year sentence for criminal recklessness.
Cheryl A. May, 33, was first charged with murder, which carries a
sentence of 45 to 65 years, in the 1997 death of Phillip J. Harmon, 69. But she
pleaded guilty last month to criminal recklessness and was sentenced Thursday
to 4 years in prison.
With credit for time already served and good behavior, she will
likely sere only about 9 months even though she faced up to 8 years on the
criminal recklessness charge. A hearing will be held April 30 to determine
whether May is eligible to serve the remainder of her sentence on home
detention.
May admitted administering lethal dose of morphine to Harmony at
the Courtland Health and Rehabilitation Center in excess of a physician’s
recommendation.
[“Former nurse could serve less than a year for death,” The Star
Press (Muncie, In.), Apr. 17, 1999, p. 3A]
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CHRONOLOGY
Nov. 10, 1996 – Shirley D. Shirey, 61; Nola K. Venderly, 81;
and Kenneth N. Stahl, 85, died between Nov. 10, 1996, and Aug. 30.
Aug. 17, 1997 – of Philip Harmon, 69, dies. Courtland
Health and Rehabilitation Center, Fort Wayne, In.
Jan. 22, 1998 – Cheryl May arrested.
Jan. 28, 1998 – 3rd exhumation performed.
Mar. 4, 1999 – Confesses to Harmon murder.
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For more cases, see Sicko Nurses
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[627-1/1/21; 1418-7/26/23]
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