Former nurse charged with murder in deaths of hospital patients
Man says he killed 30-40 patients
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Charles Cullen is shown in a New Jersey courtroom Monday.
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A nurse who claims to have killed as many as 40 patients has been charged with murder. CNN's Deborah Feyerick reports (December 16)
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SOMERVILLE, New Jersey (CNN) -- A nurse who claims to have killed as many as 40 patients was charged Monday with murder in the death of one of them and attempted murder in another case, New Jersey authorities said.
In a brief court appearance, Charles Cullen, 43, told a judge, "I am going to plead guilty. I don't plan to fight this."
As the judge tried to stop Cullen from speaking to protect his rights, the nurse said he did not want a lawyer and repeated his vow not to fight the charges. He's being held on $1 million bail.
Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest told reporters later that Cullen claimed to have killed between 12 and 15 patients at the Somerset Medical Center, where he worked for several years.
Forrest said Cullen claimed to have killed as many as 40 patients in his 16 years as a nurse in at least 10 other medical facilities.
"He purposely caused the deaths by the improper administration of various medications," Forrest said. "He asserted that his motive was to alleviate pain and suffering in these cases."
The prosecutor said Cullen, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was arrested Friday and charged with murder in the death of a Catholic priest who entered Somerset Medical Center for treatment of heart disease. The attempted murder charge involves a female patient who had cancer and heart disease.
The priest was found to have lethal levels in his system of the drug digoxin, a heart medication. The female patient recovered from an overdose of the same drug, Forrest said.
Cullen was fired from the medical center several weeks ago, after an investigation of six patients with abnormal lab results showed him as the only common denominator in the cases. Four of the patients, including the priest, died after treatment at the hospital.
In a statement, the hospital said it "suspected" the nurse was "involved with the abnormal test results," fired him and reported him to state nursing authorities.
According to a report from The Associated Press, neighbors in Cullen's Bethlehem neighborhood described him as quiet and said he rarely interacted with them since moving to the area a few months ago.
Kristy Hendershot said her father recently spoke with Cullen, who gave no indication anything was amiss.
"When they were shoveling snow, (Cullen) talked to him like everything was fine," she said in the AP report. "He seemed like a friendly guy. I didn't see him come out of his house a lot."
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
