Richard Angelo

Serial Killer

Richard Angelo – The “Angel of Death” Nurse

Background

Richard Angelo was born on August 29, 1962, on Long Island, New York. He grew up in a family connected to education; his father worked as a high school guidance counselor and his mother was a teacher. Angelo graduated from St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School in 1980 and later studied nursing at Farmingdale State College. He performed well academically and eventually became a registered nurse. After working at other medical facilities, Angelo joined Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, New York, in April 1987. He was assigned to the hospital's intensive-care and cardiac-care units, often working the overnight shift. Within months, patients under his care began suffering sudden and unexplained episodes of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest.

The Crimes at Good Samaritan Hospital

Angelo deliberately administered powerful neuromuscular-blocking drugs to hospitalized patients without medical authorization. The drugs associated with his crimes included Pavulon, the trade name for pancuronium bromide, and Anectine, or succinylcholine. These medications are used under carefully controlled medical circumstances because they temporarily paralyze muscles. In an improperly supported patient, paralysis of the muscles required for breathing can quickly create a life-threatening emergency. Angelo injected patients through their intravenous lines and then waited for them to develop severe breathing difficulties or respiratory arrest. According to his subsequent statements and the evidence presented at trial, his purpose was not simply to make patients ill. He wanted to create emergencies in which he could participate in resuscitation efforts and appear competent, important, and heroic to his coworkers. The scheme was extraordinarily dangerous because Angelo could not control how individual patients would react to the drugs. Many of the people in his care were already medically vulnerable. Once the drugs took effect, a patient could become incapable of breathing normally and could die if artificial ventilation and other emergency treatment were not provided quickly enough. ...

Confirmed Victims: (4)

John Stanley Fisher Age: (75), Date of Death: 1987-09-08

Suspected Victims:

Joseph Francis ONeill Age: (79), Date of Death: 1987-09-21

Joan Hayes Age: (53), Date of Death: 1987-10-05

Survivors:

Gerolamo Kuchich Age: (73), Date of Attack: October 11, 1987

Richard Angelo - Wikipedia