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116 Comments
- aimeemw, on 04/04/2009, -1/+64What compels someone to do that?
- Grova, on 04/04/2009, -4/+64Give her the death penalty...lethal injection will do.
- inactive, on 04/04/2009, -3/+31What the *****? Getting iron while on the dialysis machine is unpleasant, I can't even begin to imagine what bleach would feel like. I hope she gets murdered before trial.
- chaoswings, on 04/05/2009, -2/+30Nothing. As it stated in the article she was a well to do nurse up until that point. She clearly has some sort of mental disorder. You won't find a rational reason for this, other then what may have set her off.
I also dislike how the clinic is trying to shift some of the blame onto themselves by saying they should have watched her more closely. There is nothing they could have done, the blame belongs squarely on that woman's shoulder's and nobody else. - inactive, on 04/04/2009, -1/+29You'd think somebody would have caught on sooner.
- j1ggy, on 04/05/2009, -3/+27Rosie O'Donnell's sister??
- ardembiniwoot, on 04/04/2009, -1/+23***** you, nurse!
- oilcan, on 04/05/2009, -0/+21not sure how you get more deadly than it kills you...but if you say so...
- booyahbitch, on 04/05/2009, -2/+19Not true.
- Amavel, on 04/05/2009, -1/+17You scare me.
- thatmusicjunkie, on 04/05/2009, -1/+16Nurse Is Charged in the Death of 5 Patients
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
Published: April 2, 2009
HOUSTON — A nurse has been charged with murdering five patients at a clinic in Lufkin, Tex., by injecting bleach into their veins while they were undergoing kidney dialysis, local authorities said Thursday.
The arrest of the nurse, Kimberly Saenz, 35, this week appeared to resolve the mystery surrounding a spike in deaths and sudden illnesses at the DaVita Dialysis clinic a year ago. State records show 19 people died at the clinic in the five months before Ms. Saenz was fired in late April 2008; that number was well above the state’s average rate.
The police say they have found evidence linking Ms. Saenz to at least five of those deaths, including three on a single day — April 1, 2008. She is also charged with sickening five other patients, who survived despite having doses of bleach added to their intravenous tubes during dialysis. If convicted, Ms. Saenz faces the death penalty.
Company officials say Ms. Saenz was fired on April 29, 2008, after a patient spotted her injecting an unusual fluid into the intravenous tube of another person undergoing dialysis.
A month later, she was arrested on assault charges in connection with patients who had become ill after receiving infusions of bleach. At the time, the police said at least two patients had seen her draw bleach into syringes and inject it into patients. Traces of bleach were also found in syringes and dialysis lines, they said.
On Tuesday, the Angelina County district attorney, Clyde Herrington, convinced a grand jury that the evidence against Ms. Saenz was strong enough to charge her with murder in five deaths. She was arrested Thursday night and was being held in the Angelina County jail without bond. Her lawyer, John Henry Tatum, did not respond to messages left at his office in Lufkin, a town of 40,000 people about 115 miles north of Houston.
DaVita, which operates 1,400 dialysis clinics across the country, maintains there was nothing in Ms. Saenz’s employment history to suggest she was a danger to patients. The company has also said managers at the clinic could not have prevented the attacks.
“This lone individual’s alleged intentional and deceptive acts have caused incredible grief for the victims’ family members,” a spokesman for the company, Richard A. Grenell, said in a statement.
But relatives of some victims said the clinic bore a measure of responsibility for what happened.
“I do feel something horrible was happening at DaVita, and the clinic is guilty of not properly supervising its staff,” John Metcalf was quoted as saying in an interview with The Lufkin Daily News. His mother, Thelma Metcalf, died at the clinic a year ago after being poisoned with bleach.
Ms. Saenz, who lives in the neighboring town of Pollock, worked as a licensed vocational nurse for nearly four years in Texas, according to the State Health Department. She began working at the clinic in the fall of 2007. - MoneyShot, on 04/05/2009, -0/+12But the Detroit Lions never beat anyone.
- OptionalPirate, on 04/05/2009, -1/+12They better remove this freakish sausage-faced lady from society for good.
- j1ggy, on 04/05/2009, -0/+10Late for her third lunch break?
- greenwald, on 04/05/2009, -3/+13Texas is a special place in hell. Send her to the normal hell
- Cam_86, on 04/05/2009, -1/+11Injecting air into someone kills them almost instantly. As crazy as she is, she still was smart enough to realize having patients die while the syringe is still in their body makes it hard to deny she had nothing to do with them dying.
Senseless killing are messed up... But senselessly killing someone who is trusting you to help them while they are sick? Thats really ***** up. Didnt she have to take a psychological evaluation prior to being allowed to care for patients? - inactive, on 04/05/2009, -1/+10Nothing is deadlier than injecting SQL into a patient.
- timla, on 04/05/2009, -2/+11There is a special place in hell reserved just for her, and Texas will make sure she gets there sooner rather then later.
- Zervaman, on 04/05/2009, -3/+11I'm just glad that this happened in Texas, where they aren't afraid to put sick bastards like this to death!
- Vengefultacos, on 04/05/2009, -2/+10I'm against the death penalty. I don't believe we can trust the state and juries to decide who lives or who dies. I really hope Texas abolishes capital punishment.
*after* they fry this one. - EricAnderton, on 04/05/2009, -0/+6Yup. Makes the blood clot. It's pretty much over when that hits the brain.
- d03boy, on 04/05/2009, -0/+5It can be. If it gets to the heart.
- aceakm, on 04/05/2009, -0/+5Read a book chaos.
- wondertwins, on 04/05/2009, -2/+7injecting air is deadly? really?
- timla, on 04/05/2009, -1/+6Evil, pure evil.
- inactive, on 04/05/2009, -0/+5"I want to feel the pain!" "Dexter... you know what you have to do.."
- Biscuitz, on 04/05/2009, -0/+5A undiagnosed mental disorder, that's what.
- Nintendesert, on 04/05/2009, -1/+6Takes a lot of air to do anything.
- inactive, on 04/05/2009, -1/+5The nurse probably planned to eat them.
- Amavel, on 04/05/2009, -0/+4I didn't.
- greenwald, on 04/05/2009, -1/+5Someone spilled bleach on her prom dress years earlier is my guess.
- rheaume, on 04/04/2009, -3/+7No access to guns?
- indubitably, on 04/05/2009, -2/+5The looser the waistband, the deeper the quicksand
Or so I have read. - inactive, on 04/04/2009, -4/+7We should throw her in a Lions cage...
- EricAnderton, on 04/05/2009, -0/+3Exactly. Just ask little Johhny DROP TABLE.
- caseycoold, on 04/05/2009, -1/+4mirror?
- d03boy, on 04/05/2009, -0/+3No. Remove her kidneys.
- DrDetox, on 04/05/2009, -1/+4I think this woman needs a dose of her own medicine. I am glad this happened on Texas where the death penalty is still applicable. Karma is a bitch, in these cases I wish they still had the punishment an eye for an eye. I hope she didn't have any kids.
- DrLeePhD, on 04/05/2009, -0/+3preferably with lions inside it too.
- meganbdeel, on 04/05/2009, -0/+3Couldn't have said it better myself..
- inactive, on 04/05/2009, -3/+5bitch
- kenism, on 04/05/2009, -2/+4What's crazy is there seems to be no motive. Just random killing.
- d03boy, on 04/05/2009, -1/+3'; INSERT INTO Patient (veins) VALUES ('bleach')--
- gryphon50, on 04/05/2009, -0/+2some people are saying there is "no motive"....there have been a number of cases involving these so-called "Angels of Death" and they enjoy having the power of life and death over people. There was one nurse from the 1800's (Jane Toppan) who would poison her patients, then exert every effort to bring them back from the brink of death, only to kill them later. That kind of power is a thrill for some people.
- vio3, on 04/05/2009, -0/+2That's awesome!! Thanks!
Worked like a charm :) - NateHKA, on 04/05/2009, -1/+3This was all a simple misunderstanding. The patients had all requested bleach in their eyes after seeing her and she was trying to accommodate them. Unfortunately she was a little confused on which method to use and this happened.
- saerko, on 04/05/2009, -0/+2This is why LVN/LPNs shouldn't be certified on IV meds.
- bjett92, on 04/05/2009, -1/+3Use bugmenot.com
No need to register - aceakm, on 04/05/2009, -3/+5Seriously, read a book.
- avonalt, on 04/05/2009, -0/+2FTA:
"“I do feel something horrible was happening at DaVita, and the clinic is guilty of not properly supervising its staff,” John Metcalf was quoted as saying in an interview with The Lufkin Daily News. His mother, Thelma Metcalf, died at the clinic a year ago after being poisoned with bleach."
The son of a patient said that, not the clinic. I'd assume he's going to sue the clinic. -
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