‘Angel of Death’ nurse gets probation for criminal neglect of patient

‘Angel of Death’ nurse gets probation for criminal neglect of patient


BY DAN ROZEK

Sun-Times Media

drozek@suntimes.com

Last Modified: Dec 14, 2011 04:06PM

A former nurse at Woodstock care center where six residents died suspiciously avoided a prison term Wednesday when she was placed on probation for giving unprescribed drugs to a patient there.

Marty Himebaugh — who McHenry County prosecutors said had been described as the “Angel of Death” by a co-worker — was placed on two years’ probation and fined $5,000 for felony criminal neglect. She pleaded guilty to the charge in October.

Prosecutors had sought a two-year prison term for Himebaugh, who they contended in 2006 gave an agitated male patient two drugs he had never been prescribed to subdue him.

“She viewed him as a problem for her and she pumped him full of medication,” Assistant State’s Attorney Philip Hiscock said. “That type of conduct cannot be tolerated.”

In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors dropped five other felony counts against Himebaugh, whose nursing license was suspended by state regulators in 2009 after a probe of patient deaths at the former Woodstock Residence nursing home where she worked.

Authorities began investigating the home in 2006 after receiving reports of six unusual patient deaths there purportedly involving overdoses of morphine, a powerful painkiller. The bodies of three former patients ultimately were exhumed and a pathologist determined one had died of a morphine overdose.

Himebaugh and her former supervisor, Penny Whitlock, were charged in 2008 in connection with their duties at the nursing home, though neither was charged with causing any patient deaths.

Whitlock was acquitted earlier this year of charges she allowed Himebaugh to overmedicate patients with morphine and tried to obstruct the investigation of the nursing home by ordering an employee to destroy drugs she purportedly kept in her desk.

Prosecutors also contended Whitlock had nicknamed Himebaugh the “Angel of Death” because of the way patients in her care died — though Whitlock denied ever using that phrase.

The 60-year-old Himebaugh faced charges of giving patients medications they hadn’t been prescribed and of dosing some with excessive levels of morphine.

When she pleaded guilty, Himebaugh admitted giving the anti-anxiety medication Ativan and another drug, Risperdal, to patient Tony Hodges, even though he hadn’t been prescribed either medication.

Hodges fell several hours later and suffered a head injury, though defense attorney Sam Amirante contended the fall couldn’t clearly be linked to the drug given him by Himebaugh in an effort to help, not harm, him.

“She didn’t want him to fall,” Amirante said. “At the time, she thought it was the right thing to do.”

Amirante described Himebaugh as an “angel of courage, of compassion, of decency.”

Judge Joseph Condon didn’t go that far, but noted he still had “serious doubts” about the allegations levelled against Himebaugh and against Whitlock. He acquitted Whitlock during her trial of all the charges she faced.

Himebaugh didn’t speak during her sentencing and declined to comment as she left the Woodstock courtroom.

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http://www.suntimes.com/9444884-417/angel-of-death-nurse-gets-probation-for-criminal-neglect-of-patient.html

Editor's note: The following incident is  not directly related to the case above, however in a way it is.  Alice R. Gore, deceased, a disabled 99 year old ward of the Probate Court of Cook County in Judge Kawamoto's courtroom. When Alice was removed from the hospital morgue was wearing a DNR (do not resuscitate) bracelet.  Alice's express wishes were that "maximum effort were to be used to resuscitate her.  Unfortunately, the court in its wisdom had replaced Alice's only daughter with a granddaughter who was mentally disabled since birth as Alice's guardian for health care who allegedly ordered the change of status to DNR.  Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster,  ProbateSharks.com