A “Rogue Nurse” in North Carolina has been charged with murder after two patients died after he allegedly administered lethal doses of insulin, according to state officials.
According to Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill, Johnathan Hayes, 47, worked as a nurse at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and allegedly administered the doses from late 2021 to early 2022.
Hayes was arrested earlier in the day on two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, according to the prosecutor.
On January 5, 2022, Hayes allegedly administered a lethal dose of insulin to patient Gwen Crawford. According to O’Neill, she died three days later, on January 8.
Vickie Lingerfelt, the second fatal patient, was allegedly given a lethal dose of insulin on January 22, 2022. She died on January 27th.
Hayes was also charged with giving a near-fatal dose of insulin to a third patient on December 1, 2021, but the patient survived, according to the district attorney.
Hayes’ actions, according to Denise Potter, vice president of communications at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, are not in accordance with the hospital’s standards.
“As soon as we identified a deviation in patient care… we immediately removed the employee from the patient care environment and terminated his employment,” she explained.
Hayes worked as a registered nurse for Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist for the last 15 years and was let go on March 18, 2022, according to a hospital spokesperson.
O’Neill stated that the hospital conducted its own internal investigation and contacted Winston-Salem Police and state officials in March to investigate the incident.
The Winston-Salem Police Department’s investigation lasted months and included interviews, evidence collection, and discussions with victims’ family members.
O’Neill stated that “the totality of the information” in the investigation led him to the conclusion that there was probable cause to charge Hayes with murder.
According to the district attorney, Hayes was a “rogue nurse,” and there was no evidence that he knew the patients prior to the incidents, and he acted alone.
There has been no word on a possible motive, and the investigation is still ongoing.
“Johnathan Hayes has renounced the honour of being referred to as a nurse.” “From now on, he’ll be known as a defendant,” O’Neill rebuked harshly.
According to a statement, the hospital “notified the appropriate regulators and licensing boards and has been working with them throughout their investigations” in addition to contacting authorities.
What is alleged to have occurred “certainly does not reflect the high standards of safety and integrity that we always expect from each and every one of our dedicated teammates,” according to the statement. “We conducted a thorough investigation to ensure that we did everything possible to ensure that an event like this never happens again.”
According to booking records, he was booked into the Forsyth County jail on no bond on Tuesday.
