A Lehigh County, PA, judge says five wrongful death suits filed against St. Luke's Hospital by families
of patients former nurse Charles Cullen has confessed to killing can
proceed to trial. In a series of rulings last week, Judge Edward Reibman threw out 10
lawsuits filed by the families of patients Cullen has not admitted to
killing. In those cases, Reibman granted the hospital's motions for summary
judgment primarily because the plaintiffs' medical expert, Dr. David Fowler, could not link their deaths directly to Cullen. ''[Fowler] notes in his report that he 'cannot exclude or include them
as victims within a reasonable degree of medical certainty,''' Reibman
wrote.
Cullen, now serving a life sentence at Trenton State Prison, NJ, worked at St. Luke's Hospital as a nurse from 2000 to 2002. He pleaded guilty to killing 29 people and attempting to kill six others at hospitals in Pennsylvanic and New Jersey. St. Luke's and four New Jersey hospitals where Cullen worked reached an undisclosed settlement in February 2008 with families of New Jersey patients who had been killed by Cullen, a former Bethlehem resident.
Excerpted from TheMorningCall.com.
Cullen, now serving a life sentence at Trenton State Prison, NJ, worked at St. Luke's Hospital as a nurse from 2000 to 2002. He pleaded guilty to killing 29 people and attempting to kill six others at hospitals in Pennsylvanic and New Jersey. St. Luke's and four New Jersey hospitals where Cullen worked reached an undisclosed settlement in February 2008 with families of New Jersey patients who had been killed by Cullen, a former Bethlehem resident.
Excerpted from TheMorningCall.com.
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