The Tainted Kidney
By Charles Graeber / New York Magazine
Charles Cullen, who may be the most prolific serial killer America has ever seen, is serving eighteen consecutive life sentences in a New Jersey penitentiary. Behind bars, he can no longer take life, yet he’s found a way to give it—in the form of an organ transplant. But no one wants to give him the chance to play God again.

Nurse Who Killed 29 Donates Kidney
Chicago Tribune
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY -- A former nurse who admitted killing 29 patients in two states donated one of his kidneys to the brother of an ex-girlfriend, the nurse's lawyer said Wednesday. Charles Cullen had threatened to skip his sentencing hearing unless he was allowed to be a donor. A judge gave permission in February for the serial killer to be removed from prison for the operation. The recipient was Ernie Peckham of Rocky Point, N.Y., said Johnnie Mask, Cullen's public defender. Cullen pleaded guilty to killing 29 patients with drug overdoses at nursing homes and hospitals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He was sentenced to 18 life terms.

Killer Nurse Gets 6 More Life Sentences
About - News & Issues
Serial killer Charles Cullen, who killed at least 29 people in two states while he worked as a nurse, was given six more life sentences in Pennsylvania last week, but this time he did not sit silently through the courtroom proceedings. Cullen, who had remained quiet in previous court appearance, began loudly repeating, "Your honor, you need to step down" over and over throughout his sentencing hearing before Judge William Platt.

Clock's Ticking on Cullen's Kidney
6abc.com, PA
Charles Cullen, the former nurse who admitted killing 29 patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, is apparently frustrated that he has not been able to help save one. Cullen has been waiting a year to donate a kidney to the relative of a friend. Now, his lawyer says, time may be running out as tests showing Cullen is a viable donor are near a year old - almost too old to be valid. His lawyer says the problem appears to be Stony Brook University Medical Center on Long Island. Johnnie Mask says he doesn't think doctors want to operate on Cullen. A judge approved the transplant after Cullen agreed to appear before the victims' families when he was sentenced to life in prison.

A Sad Father's Day Leaves Family
Seeking Report On Dad's Death
Dailyrecord.com, NJ
Lynn Popelka said she offered to work today because she wanted to keep busy. Here comes another Father's Day, the third since she began to suspect her father was murdered, and she and her family are still waiting for answers. They are still waiting for law enforcement authorities to get back to them with the results of pathology tests. They say they are still waiting for Charles Cullen, the serial killer nurse, to be asked the right questions.

Cullen Case Suits Upheld
By Precious Petty / The Express-Times
ALLENTOWN -- A Lehigh County judge denied a motion to throw out lawsuits filed against St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network by people who say killer nurse Charles Cullen preyed on their family members under his care. St. Luke's lawyers argued the eight plaintiffs filed their lawsuits too late under Pennsylvania law, or more than two years after Cullen treated their loved ones in 2001 and 2002.

Families Tell Killer He's A 'Monster'
CBS News
Somber relatives of the victims of New Jersey's worst serial killer clutched photographs and called the former nurse "the monster" at his sentencing hearing Thursday. "In case he forgot what my mother looked like, look into my eyes now, Mr. Cullen," Richard J. Stoecker told Charles Cullen, who was to be sentenced to life in prison for 22 murders and the attempted murders of three others in New Jersey. "You'll see those same eyes, staring right back at you. "You don't even have the guts to look this way, do you?"

Victims' relatives confront N.J. killer
The Conservative Voice
Relatives of the victims of New Jersey's worst serial killer lashed out at the former nurse at his sentencing hearing Thursday, calling him "the monster" and blaming him for wrecking their lives. "My heart, it aches for my son," said Mary Strenko, whose 21-year-old son was Charles Cullen's youngest victim. "I walk around with a hole in my heart."

Cullen Lawyer: List of killer Nurse's Victims is Incomplete
Newark Star Ledger
Charles Cullen killed more patients during his 16-year nursing career than the 29 identified so far, his attorney said yesterday, warning authorities to reconsider closing their investigation. In a letter to prosecutors in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the court-appointed defense lawyer said Cullen "has worked diligently to identify all of his victims using medical files, medical charts, forensics and his own recollection of patients and events." "Nevertheless, not all victims have been identified," Deputy Public Defender Johnnie Mask wrote, adding that once Cullen is sentenced, his obligation to cooperate will end.

NJ Delays Sentencing Of Killer Nurse
The Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. -- Sentencing for Charles Cullen, a nurse who has admitted murdering 29 patients in two states, has been delayed so investigators can continue looking into possible additional cases in two New Jersey counties, authorities said Tuesday. The sentencing had been scheduled for Thursday. Cullen, the most prolific serial killer in New Jersey history, agreed in 2004 to help authorities solve the crimes he committed during a 16-year nursing career. In exchange, he will avoid the death penalty.

Victims' Families Set To Confront Killer
USA Today
NEWARK, N.J. -- A sentencing hearing is scheduled to begin Thursday (Jan. 5, 2006) for Charles Cullen, who pleaded guilty to 29 murders and six attempted murders during his 16-year nursing career in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Cullen, 44, has told investigators he might have killed as many as 40 people, but authorities say that estimate appears to be inflated. Most of the victims were given an overdose of heart medication, usually digoxin. The former critical care nurse was able to move from hospital to hospital, despite suspicions he was killing patients, because the institutions did not report their fears to authorities.

Man Convicted Of 29 Murders
All Headline News
Newark, New Jersey -- Charles Cullen, a nurse who practiced in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, is convicted of 29 murders and six attempted murders. Cullen, who pleaded guilty to the charges, tells authorities, however, that he may have killed over 40 patients. Cullen, who worked as a nurse for 16 years, says that he administered lethal doses of heart medications to patients because he thought he was "easing the suffering."

Daughter scornful of Cullen
Kidney donation leaves her unmoved. Sentencing
in her father's murder scheduled for mid-January.
The Express Times
The thought that some might view Charles Cullen's kidney donation as an act of mercy is enough to make Kristina Toth cringe. "For me, there's not enough justice," Toth said Thursday, a day after New Jersey authorities said they'd allow the killer nurse to donate the organ to the relative of an ex-girlfriend, but only after he appears at his sentencing on multiple murders in Somerset County, N.J.

Charles Cullen: Friend of the Dying
American Chronicle
Hypocrisy is alive and well in the United States, especially in the case of Charles Cullen, who has been identified as being the worst serial killer in the state of Pennsylvania. Mr. Cullen, a male nurse who makes Nurse Ratchet look like Florence Nightingale, murdered twenty-nine patients through lethal injections during a reign of pharmaceutical terror from 1988 to 2003. He was arrested in 2003. Recently, to the shock of his victim’s families, Cullen wishes to donate a kidney to help an ailing person. While the recipient of the kidney has remained anonymous, sources have said that the ailing individual is a relative of Cullen’s ex-girlfriend.

Cullen admits third attempted murder in NJ
Newsday
SOMERVILLE, N.J. -- Former nurse Charles Cullen, who already has pleaded guilty to murdering nearly 30 patients, on Monday admitted trying to kill a patient at Somerset Medical Center by giving him an unauthorized dose of insulin. The guilty plea in state Superior Court was the third charge of attempted murder to which the serial killer has pleaded guilty in New Jersey. He has pleaded guilty to murdering 29 patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and attempting to murder three others in Pennsylvania.

Serial killer nurse wants to save a life by giving kidney
NEPA News
A killer nurse who murdered at least 29 patients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey by injecting them with lethal doses of drugs wants to donate his kidney to save an ailing person's life. Charles Cullen has asked prosecutors to allow him to travel to New York so doctors can perform the surgery, his attorney said Tuesday.

Cullen Asks Lehigh Judge To Leave Case
Killer says he was prejudged
on request to waive appearance
Allentown Morning Call
Apparently still upset that a Lehigh County judge commented publicly about his sentencing appearance before ruling on the matter nearly a year ago, serial killer Charles Cullen wrote a letter asking the judge to recuse himself from the case. In a two-page, handwritten request copied to the state attorney general and Court of Judicial Discipline, Cullen contends Judge William Platt acted unethically when he commented on Cullen's objection to appearing at his sentencing before ruling Nov. 17 that Cullen must attend.

St. Luke's Hospital Asks Court To Dismiss
Cullen case suits Lawyers for both sides
also ask for exchange of information.
Allentown Morning Call
The lawyer for St. Luke's Hospital wants a Lehigh County judge to dismiss lawsuits by plaintiffs who believe their family members were killed by former nurse Charles Cullen. Arthur W. Hankin also asked Judge Thomas A. Wallitsch on Monday to lift a court order stopping the exchange of information, so the hospital can tap the state police and other sources. Plaintiffs' lawyers agreed the exchange should start but argued St. Luke's isn't the only party that needs critical information on what the hospital did or didn't know about Cullen.

A bad law reformed: Deadly silence
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Under a new state law, Pennsylvania employers no longer will face legal reprisals when providing appraisals of employees' job performance. The law follows the disturbing case of Charles Cullen. The killer nurse went from hospital to hospital in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, leaving behind a trail of 29 dead patients to whom he administered overdoses of heart medication. Though his actions had raised suspicions, his employers did not report their concerns to authorities. They could have been sued.

Hillside Native Lauded In Case Of Killer Nurse
Gazette Leader
One of Hillside's finest local products was recently recognized nationally and internationally for his role as the lead detective in the investigation of New Jersey's most infamous serial killer. Detective Daniel "Sweeny" Baldwin, a 1988 graduate of Hillside High School and a former member of the Hillside Police Department, served as the lead detective in the investigation of nurse Charles Cullen, who admitted to killing dozens of patients over the course of 16 years. Cullen, 45, was arrested in December 2003 for murdering a patient at Somerset Medical Center.

Report: Nurses suspected Cullen of
killing patients year before arrest
Asbury Park Press
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Seven nurses told State Police they suspected colleague Charles Cullen of harming or killing patients more than a year before his arrest, a newspaper reported Sunday. Cullen was arrested in December 2003 in Somerset County, N.J., and has admitted in court to 29 deaths with lethal drug injections while working as a nurse in Pennsylvania and New Jersey from 1988 to 2003. He is suspected in other patient deaths; the investigation is continuing.

LVH dropped from Cullen lawsuits
Hospital was named in six cases
for giving reference to St. Luke's.
Allentown Morning Call
A Lehigh County judge on Wednesday agreed to dismiss Lehigh Valley Hospital from all civil suits brought by families who suspect serial killer Charles Cullen played a part in their relatives' deaths. The suits involve patients who died at St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill. LVH, in Salisbury Township, was named because Cullen, a former nurse, had worked there first and the hospital had given Cullen a positive job reference. The ruling by Judge Thomas A. Wallitsch does not affect the continuing criminal case against Cullen, who pleaded guilty in November to murdering six patients and trying to kill three others at the two Lehigh County hospitals.

Criminal Checks Protect Elderly
State requires nursing homes to screen workers
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
When Jeffrey Lewis needed to find nursing care for his grandmother earlier this year, he had plenty of things to worry about. He worried about ensuring she'd be well-fed and clean, that her financial affairs would stay in order, that her room would be bright and airy, that she'd get the medical attention she needs and that if she rang her call bell, staff would hustle to take care of her. The last thing he wanted to worry about was whether the nursing home workers had questionable criminal backgrounds.

Tewksbury Township Man Among
Five More Victims of Killer Nurse
Hunterdon Review
TEWKSBURY TWP. -- Confessed killer nurse Charles Cullen pleaded guilty in state Superior Court on Monday morning to five more murders, including a Tewksbury man, that he said he committed at Hunterdon Medical Center between January 1996 and October 1996. The five murders bring the total number of victims he has admitted killing so far to 29, said the public defender handling the case.

Serial killers seen as an American phenomenon
Peninsula On-line
CHICAGO -- If serial killers are still considered an American phenomenon, it’s because the United States produces so many of them. Two admitted to their crimes on Monday: “BTK” serial killer Dennis Rader who described in grisly detail how he strangled, stabbed and shot 10 victims to satisfy his sexual fantasies and Charles Cullen, a former nurse who killed as many as 40 patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Cullen on Monday also admitted to a further five murders.

N.J.'s Worst Serial Killer Murdered
29 Victims While Working In Hospitals
MSNBC
FLEMINGTON, N.J. -- A former nurse who pleaded guilty to killing 24 patients admitted Monday to killing five more people by injecting them with lethal doses of drugs. The confessions by 45-year-old Charles Cullen brought to 29 the number of victims he admitted killing in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The five new victims ranged in age from 49 to 81. Cullen's lawyer has said Cullen believed that his victims were terminally ill and that it was dehumanizing to prolong people's lives by artificial means.

Charles Cullen Admits 5 More Patient Murders
Asbury Park Press
FLEMINGTON -- Killer nurse Charles Cullen on Monday admitted murdering five patients while he was working at Hunterdon Medical Center, bringing to 29 the victims whom the state's worst serial killer has confessed to slaying in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Cullen, 45, pleaded guilty to the murders in state Superior Court. Through a court official, the families of the victims -- who ages ranged from 49 to 81 -- said they did not want to comment. Prosecutors would not reveal the victims' hometowns and declined to comment on other aspects of the case.

Hunterdon Medical Center's President
Calls Today's Guilty Pleas Shocking
WFMZ-TV
In a statement to 69 News, Robert Wise says "all of us at Hunterdon Medical Center are deeply saddened by the news that Charles Cullen entered guilty pleas today in connection with five deaths here nearly 10 years ago." Adding, "Today's announcement reflects an abrupt reversal of Mr. Cullen's own past assertions that he believed he committed no crimes at Hunterdon Medical Center. We are anxious to review any evidence that was used to support this stunning change in Mr. Cullen's recollections."

Siblings Assert Serial Killer Nurse Murdered Father
Morris News Bee, NJ
MORRISTOWN -- The children of a former Madison resident say they have compelling proof that Charles Cullen, serial killer nurse, killed their father with massive doses of digoxin in January 1997 at Morristown Memorial Hospital.

Killer Nurse Denies Role In Patient Deaths In Letter To Judge
The Associated Press
ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- A nurse who admitted killing two dozen patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania sent a letter saying he didn't have contact with five patients whose family members have sued him. Charles Cullen reviewed the families' claims and wrote to the Lehigh County clerk of courts to say he found them "to be totally without merit."

Cullen denies role in seven St. Luke's deaths
The Morning Call
Serial killer Charles Cullen met with Lehigh County officials Tuesday to review the files of deceased patients, but said he didn't kill any of them, District Attorney James Martin said. Cullen met for two hours with Martin to review the medical files of seven patients who had been at St. Luke's Hospital, Fountain Hill. Five of the files were of patients whose families have filed civil lawsuits against Cullen, and two others were of patients whose families contacted state police at Bethlehem.

Plan Proposed to Prevent Cullen Copycats
WPVI, PA
There's a plan on the table that claims to prevent potential murderers from following in serial killer Charles Cullen's footsteps. Northampton County DA John Morganelli and State Representative Jennifer Mann are proposing legislation that would grant protection to an employer who passes along personal information about a health care provider to other potential employers, as long as the information is true.

Prosecutor: Cullen to plead guilty in 1988 death of judge
By Steve Strunsky / The Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J. -- A former nurse who claims to have killed more than 40 patients at hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania is expected to plead guilty Thursday in the 1988 death of a Jersey City judge, prosecutors said. Municipal Court Judge John W. Yengo Sr. would be Charles Cullen's earliest-known victim. He died at St. Barnabas Hospital in Livingston a year after Cullen graduated from nursing school.

Cullen pleads guilty to six more deaths
The Morning Call
ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Charles Cullen, the killer nurse from Bethlehem who poisoned dozens of patients, pleaded guilty Wednesday to six more murders and three attempted murders at two hospitals in Pennsylvania. Looking sullen and saying little, Cullen appeared in a Lehigh County courtroom to enter the plea, which was announced last month. He looked at the floor as he returned to his seat, avoiding the glares of about two dozen relatives of his victims who came to see him accept responsibility for the deaths. One woman wept during the hearing.

DA: Cullen was persistent
The Morning Call
Serial murderer Charles Cullen was so determined to kill patients under his care that he tried to kill one patient at St. Luke's Hospital as many as five times, and ultimately changed lethal medicines to finish the task. New charges Thursday that Cullen killed six patients and tried to kill three others at St. Luke's and Lehigh Valley hospitals paint a picture of a nurse who painstakingly chose his victims and methodically carried out his intentions, even if it took repeated attempts.

Killer Nurse Faces Charges in More Cases
WPVI TV News
ALLENTOWN, PA -- A former nurse who has admitted killing 17 patients at hospitals in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania will be charged with six more murders and three more attempted murders, a prosecutor said Thursday. Charles Cullen delivered fatal overdoses of medication to five people at St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill when he worked there between 2000 and 2002, and gave nonfatal overdoses to two other patients, Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin said.

Cullen Admits To 17th Patient Death
KYW, PA
EASTON, PA -- A former nurse admitted to his 17th on-the-job murder on Thursday, telling a judge he killed a retired steel worker with a fatal overdose of a heart medication. Charles Cullen, who claims to have killed up to 40 patients during his nursing career in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, was somber and polite, but said little on Thursday as he pleaded guilty to the 1998 murder of 78-year-old Ottomar Schramm at Easton Hospital.

Cullen called to account
Ex-nurse enters first plea to
killing a patient in Pennsylvania.
Allentown Morning Call, PA
Peering at Charles Cullen from barely three feet away, Kristina Toth noticed what she thought was a glimmer of emotion in the eyes of a stone-faced killer. Speaking calmly and evenly as Cullen stood before Judge Stephen G. Baratta in Easton, Toth read a two-page handwritten statement, then broke into tears as she returned to the gallery. Another dramatic moment came as Baratta asked the 44-year-old Cullen, who appeared in a burnt-orange jumpsuit, with his wrists and ankles in chains, if he wanted to explain why he chose Schramm as a victim. ''Did you administer the drug digoxin with the intent to kill?'' Baratta asked. ''Yes, your honor,'' Cullen said, nodding. Baratta went on: ''Is there any reason why you selected Mr. Schramm?'' ''At this time, I'd prefer not to make a comment,'' Cullen said after a split-second pause, his eyes downcast.

Guilty plea expected
Former nurse and serial killer Charles Cullen is scheduled to plead guilty at 2 p.m. Thursday, October 7, before Northampton County Judge Stephen G. Baratta to murdering Ottomar Schramm, 78, at Easton Hospital, Wilson. Cullen has pleaded guilty to 16 murders and three murder tries in New Jersey.

One judge to handle pretrial issues in N.J. Cullen lawsuits
The Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. -- A Middlesex County judge will handle all pretrial matters in lawsuits filed over Charles Cullen, the former nurse who has admitted killing 16 patients and claims to have killed many more during his nursing career. The centralization order that appoints Superior Court Judge Bryan Garruto to the job was signed Sept. 14 and released by the Administrative Office of the Courts on Tuesday.

Committee Approves Measure to Protect Patients
Senate panel clears hospital reporting bill
The Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. -- Legislation that would allow hospitals to share employment records of health care workers was approved by a Senate committee Monday. The bill is an effort to protect patients after it was revealed that a nurse who claimed he killed up to 40 patients was able to jump from job to job at various hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania despite a sketchy employment history.

Report: Pa. authorities to charge Cullen with more deaths
The Associated Press
NEWARK, N.J. -- Former nurse Charles Cullen, who claims he killed as many as 40 patients, reportedly is expected to be charged with killing between six and 10 patients at two Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, hospitals. The Star-Ledger of Newark (New Jersey), citing unnamed sources, said Pennsylvania authorities have focused on those deaths following a series of recent interviews with Cullen. Cullen, who has already pleaded guilty to a number of patient deaths. Under an agreement with prosecutors, he was spared the possibility of receiving the death penalty in exchange for his cooperation with investigators.

I'm Also Suicidal: Slay Nurse
New York Post, NY
"Angel of Death" nurse Charles Cullen claims depression led him to murder 40 hospital patients over a period of 16 years. In a blockbuster confession to cops, the former New Jersey nurse also reportedly said he tried to kill himself at least 20 times. "There were long periods of time where I did nothing and I thought, I thought I was working through it, but . . . I kept on going into these deep depressions and I would say that that was part of it," Cullen told detectives two days after his arrest in December 2003.

Prosecutors Discuss Plea Deal for
Nurse Accused of Killing Patient
TRENTON, N.J. (Allentown Morning Call) A top New Jersey law enforcement official met Friday with prosecutors to discuss a possible plea agreement that would give immunity from the death penalty to a nurse who claimed he killed up to 40 patients. Vaughn McKoy, director of the Division of Criminal Justice, met with five prosecutors from New Jersey and two from Pennsylvania conducting separate probes in the case. They are involved in negotiations with attorneys for Charles Cullen of Bethlehem, who said he killed the patients during a 16-year nursing career in the two states.

Pa. Lawyer Hired to Assist Defense in Patient Deaths Case
EASTON, Pa. (Newsday) An Easton lawyer will be paid $100 an hour to assist a New Jersey public defender representing Charles Cullen, the nurse who allegedly said he killed up to 40 patients. Gary N. Asteak said he will assist New Jersey public defenders with the homicide charge filed this week in Northampton County. The New Jersey Public Defender's Office, in a statement Wednesday, said Asteak will be sponsoring one of its lawyers, Johnnie Mask, who is not licensed in Pennsylvania. In that role, Asteak will sit at the defense table and advise Mask on local practice and procedure, spokesman Jeff Beach said in the statement.

Pennsburg Woman's Family Files Cullen-Related Action
(Allentown Morning Call, PA) Family members of a 78-year-old Pennsburg woman who died at St. Luke's Hospital while Charles Cullen was a nurse there have filed a notice they intend to sue the hospital. Margaret D. Bosch died March 8, 2002, at the Fountain Hill hospital. She was a heart patient who died suddenly, said lawyer John N. Zervanes of Philadelphia, who on March 5 filed the civil summons. He declined to say Monday whether an autopsy was done after Bosch's death.

St. Luke's Cullen suit threats hit 7
EASTON (The Express Times, PA) The family of an East Stroudsburg woman claims she may have been killed by nurse Charles Cullen. A court filing Tuesday by the family of Shirley Fish -- combined with a filing earlier this month by the family of Margaret D. Bosch -- raises to seven the number of filings by people who say their relatives may have been killed by Cullen when he worked at St. Luke's Hospital.

Cullen's Silence Complicates Search for Victims
(Newark Star Ledger, NJ) Three months ago, nurse Charles Cullen told authorities he had killed as many as 40 people while working as a nurse in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. But he never made a list. Since then, Cullen, 44, who initially provided some partial names and sketchy descriptions, has remained silent on the advice of his public defender.

How Dangerous Employees Continue to Get New Jobs
(Yahoo News) Co-workers often complained about Charles Cullen, a nurse suspected of killing dozens of patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania with drug overdoses. He'd been fired by several hospitals and nursing homes, left others under a cloud and had known mental problems that included three suicide attempts. Prosecutors investigated him about suspicious deaths dating back to 1993, but no charges were filed. Instead, Cullen easily found new nursing jobs. Why? Former employers didn't share their suspicions with persons checking references, and state health agencies couldn't legally reveal pending inquiries about him.

Possible Victims List Grows
EASTON (The Express Times, PA) Local attorneys added another name to the growing list of former hospital patients who may have been killed by nurse Charles Cullen. A news release issued Thursday says Allentown resident Jose Vicoso may have been killed by Cullen in April 2002 while Vicoso was a patient at St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill. Vicoso, 79, was admitted for cardiac surgery on April 5, 2002. He was recovering well when he unexpectedly lapsed into a coma and died four days later, the release says.

Code of Silence Gives Rogue Nurses a Dangerous Pass
(Newark Star Ledger) On Dec. 15, Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest charged Charles Cullen with murder in the June 2003 death of one patient at Somerset Medical Center and with the attempted murder of another. Cullen told authorities that he had killed up to 40 other patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania by administering intentional drug overdoses, Forrest said. Cullen had been fired, or pushed out, by six medical institutions during a nursing career that lasted 16 years. In 1993, the Warren County Prosecutor's Office investigated him for homicide, although it did not charge him. In 2002, colleagues at a Pennsylvania hospital found him stockpiling heart medications and reported him to the police. The Pennsylvania nursing board was alerted, but it took no disciplinary action. Yet no one contacted the New Jersey Nursing Board until well after Cullen had emerged as a suspect in the Somerset County murder investigation.

High Anxiety In Hospitals
(New York Daily News) Many nurses caught abusing drugs or alcohol are simply dismissed and move on to the next job. "There's a code of silence. Instead of confronting them, they would rather ... [the nurses] go to another hospital," says Dr. Clifford Gevirtz, the former chief of anesthesiology at the Bronx Veterans Affairs Medical Center and medical director of the Addiction Recovery Institute. "They would rather they just move on." Authorities suspect that's how nurse Charles Cullen may have been able to kill as many as 40 patients while working at hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Hospitals where he worked failed to pass along their concerns about his erratic behavior to future employers. Federal lawmakers are pushing to have the disciplinary records of nurses included in a national databank, which employers could check before hiring. They want to force employers to report to regulators the reasons why someone was fired.

Hospital Takes Out Ads About Cullen Case
Nurse Has Claimed He Killed Dozens Of Patients
SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) The hospital where a former nurse is accused of murdering one patient and attempting to murder another last year has taken out newspaper ads to offer its side of the story, according to a published report. Officials at Somerset Medical Center contend some of the media coverage of the Charles Cullen case has been inaccurate. Cullen has reportedly told prosecutors he may have killed more than 40 patients at various institutions in Pennsylvania and New Jersey since 1987.

Cullen Suit Lawyers Get More Time
EASTON (The Express Times) Attorneys for the Cohen & Feeley law firm have at least two extra months to decide whether to file lawsuits against St. Luke's Hospital on behalf of the families of three people who may have been killed by nurse Charles Cullen. The firm wants permission to wait until August, but Northampton County Judge Robert A. Freedberg did not rule on that request in court Friday.

Cullen Suits Pose Questions
(Allentown Morning Call) Lawyers for three families who think their loved ones may have been victims of Bethlehem critical care nurse Charles Cullen asked Northampton County President Judge Robert Freedberg on Friday for more time to file their lawsuits. But Freedberg said that before he can rule on their requests, he must decide whether the lawsuits belong in Northampton County at all.

Police in Pa. Ask to Question Accused Nurse
EASTON, Pa. (AP) Police investigating a 1998 death at Easton Hospital have asked for a chance to question Charles Cullen, a nurse who claims to have killed as many as 40 elderly patients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey during his 16-year career. Prosecutors have said that Cullen is a suspect in the death of Ottomar Schramm, a 78-year-old retired steelworker who died unexpectedly at the hospital three days after being admitted for treatment of seizures.

Ample Warning of a Killer Nurse
(New York Times) The more we learn about the case of Charles Cullen, the nurse who may have murdered up to 40 patients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey with deliberate drug overdoses over a 16-year career, the more appalling it becomes. A lengthy report by Richard Pérez-Peña, David Kocieniewski and Jason George in The Times on Sunday shows that Mr. Cullen is not one of those serial killers who raised no concerns among colleagues and neighbors.

Lawyer Asks to Grill Doctors on Killer Suspect
EASTON -- An Allentown attorney wants to know what area hospitals knew about alleged killer nurse Charles Cullen before they hired him and after he left. Now a Northampton County judge must decide whether doctors and hospital administrators need to answer those questions about the nurse accused of killing up to 40 of his patients at multiple area hospitals.

Investigators Search Home of
Nurse Accused in Patient Deaths
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) The Pennsylvania home of a former nurse who claims to have killed up to 40 patients was searched late last year by New Jersey authorities, who were expecting to find a stockpile of the heart medication linked to the overdoses of two patients.

Detective: Cullen Drug Requisitions 'Alarming'
(The Star-Ledger) The lead detective investigating accused killer nurse Charles Cullen said in a search warrant request that Cullen took "medically alarming" amounts of a potentially lethal heart medicine from an automated drug cart at Somerset Medical Center.

Cunning Nurse Eluded Capture for a Decade
(New York Times) He tried suicide at least three times, did four stints at mental hospitals, broke into a colleague's house and wanted a doctor prosecuted just for drawing his blood. He was once found wearing surgical scrubs at the missile controls of a nuclear submarine, and was known in his neighbourhood for chasing cats. And even before the deaths that led to his arrest in December, at least four times in his career as a nurse, people claimed Charles Cullen might have killed patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Slain Priest's Sister Sues Nurse,
Somerset Hospital for Wrongful Death
NEWARK N.J. (The Star Ledger) The sister of a deceased New Jersey priest, who authorities say was murdered by a nurse at Somerset Medical Center, named the nurse and the hospital in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed yesterday in Superior Court in Middlesex County. Lucille Gall of Woodbridge is seeking damages from former nurse Charles Cullen, Somerset Medical Center and unnamed hospital employees in connection with the death of her brother, the Rev. Florian J. Gall.

New Jersey Fines Last Hospital
of Nurse Accused of Killings
TRENTON (AP) The hospital that last employed a nurse who has told the authorities that he killed 30 to 40 patients with lethal injections has been fined $10,000 by the state for violating state standards for handling suspicious deaths of patients. The New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services fined Somerset Medical Center in Somerville for two violations, according to a Feb. 13 letter from a state official to the hospital president.

Hospitals Didn't Fail in Reports, State Says
(Allentown Morning Call) Pennsylvania health officials found no violations of regulations governing the four Lehigh Valley hospitals and one nursing home that hired, fired or questioned Bethlehem nurse Charles Cullen before he was charged with the murder and attempted murder of patients in New Jersey. Instead, the Department of Health blamed itself for a reporting system that was new, misunderstood and spottily enforced.

Saint Barnabas to Finish Handover
of Records in Nurse Murder Probe
New Jersey (The Star-Ledger) Saint Barnabas Medical Center is expected to turn over the last of nearly 5,000 pages of internal patient, personnel and disciplinary files requested by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office as part of its investigation into nurse Charles Cullen. Cullen, 43, who is charged with killing a Somerset Medical Center patient and attempting to kill another, worked at Saint Barnabas in Livingston for five years at the beginning of his nursing career.

Son Sues Over N.J. Death Where Cullen Was Nurse
SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) A man who believes a nurse at Somerset Medical Center intentionally caused his mother's death filed a lawsuit yesterday against the hospital, five other medical facilities, and the nurse, who claims to have killed dozens of patients. Gene Shipman of Piscataway contends the death of his mother, Frances, on June 3, 2003, was actually caused by nurse Charles Cullen. The cause was listed on the Newark woman's death certificate as an irregular heart rhythm.

'Angel of Death' May Have Killed Priest,
Hospital did not tell priest's family of overdose
TRENTON (AP) Hospital officials did not tell a priest's family that he died after an apparent medication overdose nor was that information reported on the priest's death certificate. The state health department has cited Somerset Medical Center and could fine the hospital as much as $5,000 for failing to disclose that and other information. Authorities allege a hospital nurse, who later claimed to have been responsible for the deaths of up to 40 patients at hospitals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey during a 16-year career, intentionally administered a lethal dose of digoxin, a heart medication.

Nurses' Warnings Unable to Stop Trail of Death
More than a year before Charles Cullen's name became synonymous with death, nurses at St. Luke's Hospital were so worried he might be killing patients that they reported him to the state nursing board, law enforcement and even his next employer. In June 2002, when St. Luke's hospital security escorted Cullen off the job for allegedly stashing medicine, his co-workers in the cardiac care unit began to suspect that he was to blame for what they believed was an unusually high number of ''code blues.''

Another New Jersey Man Sees
Nurse's Hand in Mother's Death
DENVILLE, N.J. (New York Times) When Gene Shipman chatted with his mother at Somerset Medical Center last June, he considered her good spirits a sign of her improving health, he said. After three days in the hospital, she was recovering from minor strokes, and she laughed and joked as she readied herself to be discharged the next day. Yet only hours after scolding Mr. Shipman for not wearing a hat and coat, his mother, Frances Shipman, 81, died. Mr. Shipman, 61, says he now believes her death was at the hands of Charles Cullen, a Somerset nurse charged in December in the deaths of two Somerset patients.

The Unspoken Cause of Death
Somerset Medical Center did not tell the family of the Rev. Florian J. Gall that he had died from a massive overdose of the heart medication digoxin, according to a disciplinary action notice filed against the hospital by state health officials six months after the priest's June 28 death. Authorities now believe that overdose was administered by nurse Charles Cullen, who has been charged with murdering Gall. Cullen remains in custody at Somerset County Jail.

Competing Laws Cloud Public Rights to Coroner's Records
Officials blame HIPAA for withholding information
Citizens have rights to privacy and to see public information, and Zachary Lysek now finds himself caught between these opposing forces. The Pennsylvania Coroner's Act of 1955 says: "Every coroner, within 30 days after the end of each year, shall deposit all of his official records and papers for the preceding year in the office of the prothonotary for the inspection of all persons interested therein." But in Northampton County, the civil court office keeps only an index of all deaths that lists name, date and manner of death.

Coroner Dreaded an 'Angel of Death'
Since the arrest of nurse Charles Cullen, who told investigators he killed up to 40 patients over 16 years, Lysek has been tormented by his long-held suspicions that an ''angel of death'' was loose at Easton Hospital. Eight months after the mysterious death of 78-year-old Ottomar Schramm at Easton Hospital, a frustrated Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek left his investigation in the hands of the hospital where the man died. Now, four years after the hospital's probe provided no answers, Lysek doubts whether the one investigative tool under his power — a coroner's inquest — would even have helped.

Old Doubts Gain Credence as Cullen Case Continues
That meeting was in early 1999 -- nearly five years before nurse Charles Cullen captured national media attention in December by confessing to killing dozens of seriously ill patients. Zachary Lysek's hunch in 1999 about the suspicious death was so strong he subpoenaed all of Schramm's unused medications from the nursing home pharmacy -- drugs he still has today, buried in the bottom of an evidence locker somewhere.

Employer added to Cullen lawsuit
EASTON (The Express-Times) Attorneys who initiated a lawsuit against nurse Charles Cullen have added his temporary employer to the list of people and organizations who may be responsible for allowing the Bethlehem man to kill dozens of hospital patients. Cullen, 43, claims to have killed as many as 40 patients during his 16-year career as a registered nurse at a nursing home and nine hospitals in the Lehigh Valley and northwestern New Jersey. On the list of his possible victims is Virginia Buttillo, an 83-year-old homemaker from Bethlehem.

A litany of Complaints, but No Penalty for Cullen
Despite numerous complaints from co-workers and former employers about nurse Charles Cullen over the past five years, the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing took no disciplinary action against him until he was charged with murder in New Jersey. The nursing board, which falls under the Department of State's Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs, will not even confirm that complaints were filed against him.

DA Drops Bid to Seal Coroner's
Records in Cullen investigation
Lehigh County District Attorney James B. Martin said Thursday that he was dropping efforts to block a request from The Morning Call to view coroner inquest records for patients who died at hospitals that employed murder suspect Charles Cullen. Martin withdrew his motion one day before a hearing in front of President Judge William H. Platt where he would have been required to present evidence that release of the documents would impede his investigation.

Navy Aiding Probe of Nurse Accused in Patient Deaths
Navy investigators are aiding the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office in its probe of Charles Cullen, a former nurse who claims to have killed up to 40 patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. County Prosecutor Wayne J. Forrest confirmed yesterday that his office had sought details on Cullen's Navy records, but said he could not comment on the nature of the investigation or why the request was made.

Navy Investigators Aiding Probe
of Nurse Accused in Patient Deaths
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) Navy investigators are aiding the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office in its probe of Charles Cullen, a former nurse who claims to have killed up to 40 patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Naval Criminal Investigation Service began reviewing Cullen's service records last November, but a spokesman would not provide details about the scope of the review or comment on its progress.

Key events in the Charles Cullen story
1992 through 2002 -- Charles Cullen works at Warren Hospital, Morristown Memorial Hospital, Liberty Nursing Home in Allentown, Easton Hospital, St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill, Sacred Heart Hospital, and Lehigh Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township.

Trenton Hearing Set on Implications of Nurse Case
(Newark Star Ledger, NJ) Top health officials are scheduled to testify in Trenton today on the Charles Cullen case and whether new laws might be needed to stop potential hospital killers. The chairman of the Senate committee planning the hearing said a "radical fix" is needed if Cullen, a registered nurse, was indeed able to kill as many 40 patients over 16 years, as prosecutors said he has claimed. Cullen was arrested in December and charged with killing one patient and attempting to kill another at Somerset Medical Center.

Woman's Family sues Hospital that Employed Accused Nurse
The family of a woman who died after getting medical treatment at a hospital that employed a nurse accused of killing his patients filed a lawsuit Thursday against the medical center. Loretta Keller, 66, collapsed at her home in 2002 after returning from a chemotherapy treatment session at St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill, lawyers for the family said. She died at another hospital three days later.

Cullen Linked to Another Death
The two sons of a woman who died while under the care of nurse Charles Cullen at St. Luke's Hospital filed court documents Wednesday announcing their intention to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Marilyn J. Hall, 66, of Phillipsburg died unexpectedly on Nov. 20, 2001, while under Cullen's care following surgery for a circulatory problem, said family attorney John Vivian, who filed a civil summons in Northampton County Court against St. Luke's and six other hospitals.

Body of Alleged Killer Nurse's
Patient is Exhumed in N.J.
PHILLIPSBURG, N.J. (AP) The body of an elderly woman whose family contends she was stuck with a syringe by alleged killer nurse Charles Cullen before she died was exhumed yesterday so authorities could perform tests on her remains. The body of Helen C. Dean, a 91-year-old Lopatcong Township resident who died in 1993, was exhumed about 8 a.m. from a plot at Fairmount Cemetery.

Tests On Remains May Take 6 Months
PHILLIPSBURG (The Express Times) In the early morning cold, excavators took about two hours Thursday to exhume the remains of a woman who had told family members before she died that her nurse, Charles Cullen, gave her a suspicious injection with a syringe. Helen C. Dean of Lopatcong Township died in 1993 at Warren Hospital after breast cancer surgery. Soon after Cullen's arrest last month, Dean's family requested that her body be tested for the presence of the heart-slowing medication digoxin.

Tracking Nurses Can Be Tough
PHILADELPHIA (AP) A nurse suspected of killing patients in two states was able to keep his license, even after he was fired from several jobs, because hospitals, prosecutors and state regulators didn't share information. Charles Cullen told authorities this month that he gave lethal injections to 30 to 40 critically ill patients during his 16-year career in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. His public defender, Johnnie Mask, has since said Cullen — charged with one count of murder and one count of attempted murder in New Jersey — would not cooperate unless prosecutors guaranteed they would not seek the death penalty. Prosecutors haven't said what punishment they intend to seek.

Prophetic video from the 'Angel of Death'
LEBANON, Ohio (Newark Star Ledger, NJ) In 1989, experts on health care security traveled to Ohio to seek advice from Inmate A-199449. The inmate was Donald Harvey, America's most prolific hospital serial killer. He was to be the star of a video on how to prevent another Donald Harvey from happening. Harvey, who admitted in court to killing 37 people but estimates he killed 68 patients over 17 years in Ohio and Kentucky, agreed to help, and the final Communicorp video, called "In Our Midst" was widely distributed to hospitals at the time.

Angels of mercy: The dark side
(USA TODAY) They are the least likely of criminals committing the most heinous of crimes: nurses who, instead of leading patients to health, usher them to the grave. But over the past three decades, serial killer nurses have become increasingly common — or perhaps just increasingly obvious. Another case surfaced this week when nurse Charles Cullen was charged with murdering a Roman Catholic clergyman who was a patient at Somerset Medical Center in Somerville, N.J.

Nurse Arrest Raises Questions
CBS News (AP) Heart disease patient Charlotte Klimko was in and out of a critical care unit for much of last summer after lab results showed unusually high levels of a heart medication in her system. Now, her family is considering a chilling question: Did a former nurse who has confessed to killing up to 40 patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania have anything to do with making her ill? Scores of others families are beset by similar fears.

Nurse Says He Killed 30 to 40
A nurse charged in the death of a patient at a central New Jersey medical center has told investigators that he killed between 30 and 40 people during a 16-year career at hospitals in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Charles Cullen, 43, said he had administered lethal doses of drugs to sick patients to alleviate their pain and suffering. During a hearing yesterday in Somerset County, N.J., Cullen told a state Superior Court judge that he did not want a lawyer and would plead guilty to a murder charge.