Orville Lynn Majors

Serial Killer

Orville Lynn Majors: The Nurse Who Murdered Patients in His Care

A Trusted Position Turned Deadly

Orville Lynn Majors was an American licensed practical nurse who became one of the most notorious medical serial killers in United States history. Born on April 24, 1961, in Linton, Indiana, Majors entered nursing after graduating from the Nashville Memorial School of Practical Nursing in 1989. He eventually obtained a position at Vermillion County Hospital, a small medical facility in Clinton, Indiana, where patients and their families expected him to provide comfort, treatment and protection. Instead, prosecutors later proved that he deliberately used his access to medications and vulnerable patients to commit a series of murders. Majors first worked at Vermillion County Hospital before briefly accepting a nursing position in Tennessee. He returned to the Clinton hospital in 1993 and began working frequently in its four-bed intensive care unit. At first, he reportedly received favorable evaluations and could present himself as an attentive and capable nurse. Behind that professional appearance, however, the hospital's death rate began to rise to an extraordinary level. Patients who had appeared stable or were preparing to leave the hospital suddenly suffered seizures, extreme changes in blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms or cardiac arrest.

The Rising Death Rate

Before Majors returned to the hospital, approximately 26 or 27 intensive-care patients died during an average year. In 1994, the number increased dramatically, with roughly 100 patients dying in the hospital's small intensive care unit. Investigators later determined that Majors had been working during the overwhelming majority of the deaths that occurred during his employment. During a period of approximately 22 months, 121 intensive-care patients reportedly died while he was on duty, compared with only 26 deaths during the hours when he was not working. The statistical pattern was alarming. Investigators calculated that a death occurred approximately once every 23 hours that Majors worked. When he was absent, a death occurred only about once every 551 hours. The pattern continued regardless of whether Majors worked on a weekday or weekend. The connection became increasingly difficult for hospital employees to dismiss, particularly because some patients died immediately after Majors entered their rooms or handled their intravenous lines. In early 1995, intensive-care director Dawn Stirek began examining hospital schedules and mortality records. Her review revealed the striking relationship between Majors' work shifts and the deaths. Hospital officials contacted law enforcement in March 1995, beginning an investigation that would eventually involve the Indiana State Police, prosecutors, medical specialists, the exhumation of numerous bodies and an examination of hundreds of medical records. ...

Confirmed Victims: (6)

Mary Gill , Date of Death: 1994-09-11

Orville Lynn Majors - Wikipedia