A chronically diabetic man's family filed a wrongful death action against his facility last year, alleging it allowed a nurse to berate and humiliate him and kill him.Heather Pressdee, a former nursing home nurse, was charged with insulin overdose in 17 deaths.
She violated 22 patients, including diabetics, with hazardous doses at five care facilities from 2020 until this year, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office.Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Butler County, Pennsylvania, where Nicholas Cymbol died May 1, 2023, is being sued anew.
The family's attorney, Rob Peirce, said the action was filed Wednesday in Butler County. It claims Cymbol's operator and center were negligent in failing to train personnel to spot and report abuse and failing to remove Pressdee despite her bullying and disparaging comments.
A request for response from Sunnyview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center was ignored Friday. Cymbol, 43, of Sunnyview. The complaint called him a "brittle diabetic," requiring 24-hour care for blood glucose swings, anoxic brain injury, blindness, and neuropathy.
She oversaw direct resident care, resident care issues, and staff complaints and abuse investigations. The complaint stated that Pressdee “routinely insulted, berated, bullied and abused Mr. Cymbol, just as she had done to other residents.” Workers knew she “disliked” Cymbol and insulted him about his neurological handicap in front of Sunnyview staff, according to the petition.
She allegedly forbade other nurses from feeding or watering Cymbol and made him eat alone in the community dining room. The allegation claimed Pressdee was involved in other inexplicable resident deaths while caring for him. She told coworkers Cymbol was “going to be the next one to die anyway,” the complaint said.
The complaint claimed Pressdee was maintained in the institution despite these red flags. Cymbol's nurse recorded 167 mg/dL blood sugar at 6:30 a.m. April 30, 2023. Pressdee reported 380 mg/dL blood sugar 30 minutes later at 7 a.m. Pressdee then gave Cymbol 60 insulin units to reduce his blood sugar. The petition alleged that she reversed the drop with numerous glucagon injections.
The allegation said she declined to call 911, but colleagues called EMS. The evening after being diagnosed with hypoglycemia, Cymbol left Butler Memorial Hospital. Sunnyview nurses allegedly neglected his blood sugar and health while hospitalized. The complaint alleged that his condition “gradually declined” that evening and early May 1.
After 4 a.m. on May 1, a Sunnyview nurse other than Pressdee found him “hypoglycemic crisis and foaming at the mouth.” Sibling Melinda Brown was summoned to the institution. A nurse called at 4:30 a.m. to say Cymbol died. Myocardial infarction initially caused his death.
follow for more updates