In the late summer of 1995, the quiet life of Stanley Jagodowski, a 66-year-old Caucasian male and an Army veteran, came to a startling and tragic end. On August 21, 1995, Jagodowski, who was a patient at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Northampton, Massachusetts, died under circumstances that would later be revealed as anything but natural.
His death was not an isolated incident but part of a disturbing pattern of increased patient fatalities at the facility that had begun to raise alarm among the hospital staff.
Jagodowski, who had been dealing with complications from diabetes, including the amputation of a leg, was under the care of the hospital's nursing staff. One of those nurses was Kristen Gilbert. In the time leading up to his death, another nurse reportedly witnessed Gilbert enter Jagodowski's room with a syringe. Shortly after, Jagodowski was heard crying out, "Stop! Stop! You're killing me!" Although he initially claimed to be fine after the incident, he required emergency cardiac care just fifteen minutes later and subsequently passed away. His daughter later testified that she had observed a sudden and severe decline in her father's condition, finding him unconscious and helpless.
An investigation into the escalating number of deaths at the VA Medical Center eventually focused on Gilbert. Prosecutors contended that she intentionally induced medical emergencies in her patients to gain attention. The investigation uncovered that Jagodowski was one of four patients Gilbert was accused of murdering by injecting them with lethal doses of epinephrine, a heart stimulant. This powerful drug, when used improperly, can cause a fatal cardiac event.
Kristen Gilbert was arrested and stood trial for the murders of Stanley Jagodowski and three other veterans: Henry Hudon, Kenneth Cutting, and Edward Skwira. She was also accused of attempting to murder three other patients. The case against her was built on a foundation of suspicious circumstances, coworker testimony, and the sheer improbability of the spike in patient deaths during her shifts. In March 2001, Kristen Gilbert was found guilty of the murders and sentenced to life in prison, bringing a close to the harrowing case of the nurse who had turned her position of care into one of harm.
