Louise Laverne Skinner, a 90-year-old female, passed away on Sunday, December 18, 2022, in the Armstrong Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. Initially, her death may have appeared to be due to natural causes, given her age and residence at a care facility. However, subsequent events and investigations have brought to light a more sinister narrative surrounding her final days. Skinner, who had spent her entire life in Kittanning, was a patient at the facility for dementia treatment when she died.
A former nurse, Heather Pressdee, has been implicated in connection with Skinner's death. Pressdee is at the center of a much larger investigation involving numerous patient deaths at multiple nursing homes across several counties, including Armstrong, where Kittanning is located. While Pressdee is criminally charged with the murder of at least two other patients, state prosecutors have linked her to the deaths of at least 17 patients in total, including Louise Skinner. The allegations state that Pressdee intentionally administered lethal doses of insulin to these patients. In total, she is accused of the mistreatment of 22 patients, 17 of whom died. The victims of these alleged acts ranged in age from 43 to 104.
In response to these grave allegations, the family of Louise Skinner has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Armstrong Rehabilitation and Nursing Facility and its parent company. This lawsuit, at least the ninth of its kind against facilities where Pressdee was employed, claims the nursing home was negligent in hiring her. The suit points to a history of Pressdee being fired or forced to resign from nine other nursing homes due to abusive behavior prior to her employment at the Kittanning facility, which began on November 30, 2022. The legal action further alleges that the staff at Armstrong Rehabilitation failed to prevent Pressdee from administering unnecessary insulin to Skinner and did not act on or report suspicions of abuse.
Heather Pressdee of Harrison is currently being held in the Butler County jail as she faces criminal charges. The family of Louise Skinner is seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial to hold the nursing facility accountable for its alleged role in the tragic circumstances leading to her death.
