Heather Pressdee

A former registered nurse waived her preliminary hearing Tuesday, June 6, after she was accused of causing the death of two patients and the hospitalization of a third by insulin overdoses at a Donegal Township nursing home.

Heather I. Pressdee, 40, of Natrona Heights, was charged May 25 by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General with two counts of criminal homicide, one count of criminal attempted homicide, three felony counts of neglect of a care dependent person and one count of aggravated assault, and three misdemeanor counts of reckless endangerment.

Pressdee is charged in connection to the deaths of a 55-year-old man and an 83-year-old man. The third victim, a 73-year-old man, survived after emergency hospitalization.

Pressdee appeared Tuesday before District Judge Lewis Stoughton for her preliminary hearing. Phillip DiLucente, defense attorney, requested a waiver of the hearing.

“After discussions with the attorney general’s office and after discussing it very, very thoroughly with my client, she will be waiving the preliminary hearing with the current case posed against her,” DiLucente said.

DiLucente refused further comment on behalf of Pressdee.

Pressdee is scheduled to appear July 25 in Butler County Common Pleas Court for her formal arraignment. She was denied bail and remains in Butler County Prison.

According to charging documents, two men died after Pressdee allegedly injected them with insulin while under her care at Quality Life Services, 160 Medical Center Road. One died on Dec. 4, 2022, and the other died on Dec. 25, 2022.

The victim who survived was administered a potentially lethal dose of insulin on Aug. 31, 2022.

Two of the three men were not diabetic.

According to court documents, Pressdee, who was employed at Quality Life Services in 2022 as the assistant director of nursing and interim director of nursing, said she injected the patients because she felt bad for their quality of life and hoped they would “just slip into a coma and pass away.”

Police said Pressdee worked for short spans of time at 11 various care facilities throughout Allegheny, Armstrong and Butler counties from 2018 until May 2023.

Pressdee worked at Orchards of Saxonburg from February to April 2020, Quality Life Services in Donegal Township from May to November 2022, and Sunnyview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center from January to May 2023, charging documents said.

In the affidavit, investigators said they identified a pattern in Pressdee’s work history, saying she was often terminated or resigned after being disciplined for abusive behavior toward patients and staff at each facility.