Nurse claims he killed 30 to 40 patients

SOMERVILLE, N.J. — A former nurse was charged with murder Monday after telling prosecutors that he killed 30 to 40 severely ill patients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey since 1987 by injecting them with drugs.

Charles Cullen, 43, told investigators that he administered the drug overdoses to put "very sick" patients out of their misery, prosecutor Wayne Forrest said.

If Cullen’s claims prove true, it would be one of the biggest hospital murder cases in U.S. history.

Cullen was charged with one count each of murder and attempted murder, but more charges could follow. Investigators are examining records at 10 hospitals where Cullen worked as they try to document his claims about the other killings.

During a court appearance Monday, Cullen stood and told the judge, "I am going to plead guilty. I don’t plan to fight this." Cullen said he did not want a lawyer, and was held on $1 million bail.

Cullen, a divorced Navy veteran from Bethlehem, Pa., was charged with murder in the June 28 death of The Very Rev. Florian Gall, and the attempted murder of a 40-year-old woman at Somerset Medical Center. Investigators believe 12 to 15 of the deaths occurred at the hospital in Somerville.

Gall had a lethal level of the drug digoxin, a heart medication, in his system and had died from an unauthorized dose of the drug. On June 16, the 40-year-old heart and cancer patient was discovered with an elevated level of digoxin.

Somerset Medical Center said it fired Cullen Oct. 31 after an internal review found several questionable lab results involving Cullen’s patients. The lab findings prompted the hospital to notify prosecutors.

Cullen also had a spotty record at two of his previous hospitals.

In 1997, he was fired from Morristown Memorial Hospital for "poor performance," a hospital spokeswoman said.

He later worked at St. Luke’s Hospital in Bethlehem, from 2000 to 2002, when he resigned amid an investigation into whether he was wrongly diverting medication, hospital spokeswoman Susan Schantz said. Charges were never filed.