Robert Rubane Diaz

Serial Killer

Robert Rubane Diaz: The Lidocaine Killer

Overview

Robert Rubane Diaz was an American registered nurse convicted of murdering 12 hospital patients in Southern California during the spring of 1981. His crimes were particularly disturbing because they were committed inside intensive care units, places where critically ill people and their families expected medical personnel to protect life. Prosecutors proved that Diaz deliberately administered massive overdoses of lidocaine, a medication routinely used in hospitals to control certain dangerous disturbances of the heart's rhythm. Diaz was born on March 23, 1938. By 1981 he was working as a registered nurse, frequently taking night assignments in cardiac and intensive care units. His access to medications, intravenous lines, syringes, and seriously ill patients allowed the murders to initially resemble sudden medical emergencies rather than deliberate poisonings.

The Deaths at Community Hospital of the Valleys

On March 29, 1981, Diaz began working the night shift in the cardiac care and intensive care unit at Community Hospital of the Valleys in Perris, California. During approximately the next three and a half weeks, an extraordinary pattern developed. Numerous patients suddenly experienced violent seizure-like episodes, followed by respiratory failure and cardiac arrest. Nurses later testified that these seizures were unlike anything they normally saw among cardiac patients. Many of the victims were elderly and already suffered from serious illnesses, circumstances that initially made their deaths appear medically plausible. However, several patients had been stable or conscious shortly before suddenly deteriorating. The repeated appearance of similar violent seizures among unrelated patients became increasingly difficult to explain as coincidence. Eleven of the 12 murders for which Diaz was ultimately convicted occurred at Community Hospital of the Valleys. The hospital eventually became so concerned about the unusual deaths that additional precautions were instituted and medication syringes were preserved for examination. The intensive care unit was closed on April 24, 1981. Diaz then obtained work at another hospital, where another suspicious patient death occurred almost immediately. ...

Confirmed Victims: (12)

Irene Annie Graham Age: (89), Date of Death: 1981-03-30

NURSE SENTENCED TO DIE IN SLAYINGS - The New York Times