The Good Nurse, by Charles Graeber – review

Charles Cullen, an American nurse, murdered several hundred patients by the administration in overdose of restricted drugs. Hospitals should be safe places but they are actually rather dangerous: mistakes are made, accidents happen, medics may be careless or just exhausted. But although many patients die when they should have recovered, very few die at the hands of a psychopathic serial killer — so far as we know. The trouble is, we often don’t know. There could be a Cullen working and murdering in a hospital near you. Look up ‘Healthcare professionals convicted of murdering patients’ on the internet and you find 39, and note the ‘convicted’. Many have merely been suspected but escaped conviction because of lack of evidence.

Alarmist? This is an alarming book and not far into it the reader realises that it was not only the murderer people had to fear but the hospitals in which he continued working despite warnings, dismissals on suspicion and even full investigations. Cullen managed to escape partly because he was cunning and clever, as such serial killers often are, partly through luck, but also, terrifyingly, because of hospital incompetence and deception. When several managers discussed reports about Cullen their priority was not to have the buck stop on their premises. So they gave him extended leave, paid him off and issued warnings.

One CEO even telephoned the other nearby hospitals, warning them not to employ him, but the message was not passed further and Cullen hopped over the state line to a new area. He frequently worked nights, took on all the extra shifts he could get, did emergency cover, moved from one ward and hospital to another and back again. He seemed a good nurse, hard-working and supportive of colleagues, but the signs were all there.