Heather Pressdee, a nurse, is accused of giving a lethal amount of insulin to Nicholas Cymbol in a lawsuit. (Pressdee’s photo from Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General; Cymbol’s photo from his obituary)
A Pennsylvania A nurse in Pennsylvania, already facing charges for giving excessive insulin to dozens of patients, including 17 who died, is now accused of giving a lethal dose to a 43-year-old diabetic patient who she routinely insulted and abused, according to a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the man’s family.
Heather Pressdee is accused of giving Nicholas Cymbol too much insulin, leading to his death last May at Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit details the events leading to Cymbol’s death after the suspicious death of another patient on April 17. It said that “Pressdee targeted Nick Cymbol,” a “brittle diabetic” who often had large swings in his blood glucose levels and needed routine insulin.
“Even though Mr. Cymbol was well-liked by the staff at Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Pressdee routinely insulted, berated, bullied, and abused him, just as she had done to other residents,” court documents said. “Staff at Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center knew that Pressdee disliked Mr. Cymbol and believed that people like him did not deserve to live.”
Pressdee shouted at Cymbol in front of other Sunnyview staff members, telling him to “get away from [Pressdee’s] f—— desk” when he approached the nurse’s station, court documents said.
She also frequently called him offensive names such as “retarded” about his anoxic brain injury in front of Sunnyview staff members, court documents alleged.
She’s also accused of stopping other nurses at Sunnyview from feeding or giving water to Cymbol several times. The lawsuit stated that days before Cymbol died, Pressdee allegedly said he “was going to be the next one to die and that even though staff complained to administrators about it, nothing was done. After nursing staff raised concerns about Pressdee’s “erratic and troubling behavior” to Sunnyview administration, she was allowed to continue as unit manager.
“It is absolutely beyond the pale that no one did anything after Pressdee made this promise regarding Mr. Cymbol,” court documents said.
Rob Peirce, the managing partner of Robert Peirce & Associates, said in a statement he’s hoping to get answers as to how she was permitted to continue working in these facilities despite her “erratic, disturbing, and abusive behavior.”
“The more our office has investigated, the more questions we have as to why these facilities allowed these tragedies to occur,” he said.
Sunnyview did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.
As Law&Crime has reported, Pressdee is accused of intentionally giving too much insulin to 22 patients between 2020 and her arrest last May, according to the state attorney general’s office.
In a news release, Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry accused her of poisoning 19 patients. In total, 17 of those 19 patients died while in Pressdee’s care, authorities said. Some of the patients — spanning five different care facilities — needed insulin to treat diabetes, while some of them did not have diabetes.
She is charged with one count each of first and third degree murder, three counts of criminal homicide, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, and charges of aggravated assault, neglect of a care-dependent person, and recklessly endangering another person, court records show. Pressdee remains in custody at Butler County Prison without bail. She has another court hearing set for May 2, according to the court docket.
Pressdee allegedly admitted to some of the incidents but said 'she felt bad for their quality of life and she had hoped that they would just slip into a coma and pass away,” according to the initial criminal complaint filed in the case.
Phil DiLucente, one of her attorneys, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.
But in an interview with CBS Pittsburgh affiliate WPXI in November, DiLucente said his client has expressed remorse.
“She has remorse, yes. I know that sounds trite, but as crazy as the whole thing is, she does express remorse, and I think her expression of remorse is sincere,” DePasquale said, the station reported.