How Charles Cullen Kills Patients? (Medicine Name) Netflix’s “The Good Nurse” showed us the story of a nurse Charles Cullen who killed patients by polluting their IV Bags with drugs he obtained from the dispensing system of the hospitals he works in.
His actions were brought to light by the actions of Amy Loughren, who was his friend and co-worker at Somerset Medical Centre at Somerville. However, what drugs he might’ve used to kill these many patients is what makes us wonder, doesn’t it? Well, here’s what he used.
If you’re looking for any deadly lethal poisonous drugs he personally made from venomous snakes or anything, you are wrong. In fact, for a nurse, he used what he had and created deadly cocktails from the drugs that would in the right condition and proportion save lives, not end it.
Cullen mostly used digoxin, insulin, and epinephrine. He used to make cocktails by administering large amounts of these drugs that are usually taken in small doses and their high dosage can be fatal and that’s what he exploited. Creating deadly combinations and then administering them into the IV Bags of the patients.
For example, Digoxin, normally called Dig is used to treat heart conditions and regulate heart rhythm. “Dig is a very powerful cardiac medication. In small amounts, it slows the heart rate down. In larger amounts, it can cause what’s called complete heart block, and then the heart is very irregular, and you know, it can cause death – it does cause death – in large amounts”, he told this in 60 Minutes.
Cullen also used Insulin in quite a lot of patients and his administered insulin dosage sent patients into diabetic comas affecting their already weak bodies. According to the Police, Cullen committed his first murder in 1988 at Saint Barnabas Medical Centre, Livingston, New Jersey, and when the administered bags by Cullen were found to contain a high dosage of Insulin that were instead supposed to carry Saline & Heparin, he was fired.
Cullen also used epinephrine, which is used to treat allergic reactions and if used extensively can cause deadly arrhythmias. Along with that, Cullen also used Norepinephrine which affects blood vessels, and Pavulon, a muscle relaxant that is used as one of the three drugs administered during lethal injections in multiple states in the US.