The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder

Okay, the first page of this book states that Charles Cullen has a bachelor of science in nursing. It does not state from where. All I've been able to find is that Cullen got his diploma from Mountainside School of Nursing, which at that time was only a two year program. So what else can I not believe? He claims he was "honorary president" of his class (after a schoolmate insisted that he run) - but was he?

Charlie considers himself a "talker." But throughout the book he seems to have a lot of trouble carrying on an ordinary conversation.

His father died when he was a baby, and his mother died when he was seventeen. According to this book, she died in a head on collision after having an epileptic seizure at the wheel. What I've read elsewhere is that her daughter, Charlie's sister, was actually driving the car. He becomes angry at the hospital (Mountainside) because someone tells him that his mother's body has already been taken away from there - but it actually was still there. So who told him this, and where did they tell him the body HAD been taken? Did he go look for her body somewhere else? How did he find out her body was still at Mountainside?

He's angry at this hospital, and therefore angry at all hospitals. Is that his motive? To make hospitals look bad? Is that why he became a nurse? Because he does not care about people (some nurses don't). He probably just enjoys being "good" at something. Killing is just an enjoyable side benefit. Any time things get a little rough for Charlie, he attempts suicide. Apparently because he's cried wolf so many times, he's aware that no one will come to his rescue, so every time, he drives himself to the hospital. So why bother, if you know you are going to drive yourself to the hospital? So that they will then stick you in a mental hospital for a short while and you can get a little vacation?

Nurse Cullen goes into Helen Dean's room, and tells her son Larry he has to leave. When Larry comes back ten minutes later, his mother says the nurse "stuck me." He calls in a doctor who says it could be a bug bite! Excuse me, did no one BELIEVE what this woman said?? She died the next day, but the doctors and nurses couldn't have cared less.

Most people seem not to like Charlie. So how did he get married? His wife must have been totally desperate. WHY did she have TWO kids with him? Why did she stay with him for YEARS after she knew how weird and unpleasant he was? How did he get even more girlfriends (not to mention hospital jobs)? He has poor people skills. He does not understand other people. He understands what Charlie wants, and that's it. He goes about things all the wrong ways to get the treatment he desires from others. When it doesn't work out, he just can't understand why. Stalking girls and breaking into their houses scares girls and makes them stay away from him? He thinks he was right, and they are wrong. Does he have Asperger's?

When finally the authorities start to get to the point where they can no longer ignore Charlie's murders, he is interrogated. He does not appreciate this at all. Graeber writes telling what Charlie is thinking - he wonders if he will get caught. He doesn't care if he gets caught. But when he is caught, he doesn't like it. Of course, according to his confession, he only "intervened" by taking someone's life.

This is a weird guy, and apparently has been all his life. There is no getting into his head. I saw him on 60 Minutes and he seems to have a flat affect. He also stammers a lot. When at first he says he did it to put people out of their suffering, he is confronted with the truth, that a lot of the patients were NOT suffering and about to be released, he comes up with that he must have just been overwhelmed. So in other words, it calmed him down to commit murder.

This author does not get much out of Charlie. He is not an interesting fellow. He kills because he likes to see what happens - if the patient dies or not. It seems sometimes it is a personal chemistry experiment. The author writes of a patient's brains exploding. Plus Charlie's anger, his determination to "get back" at the hospital for whatever he doesn't like - being poorly run, in his opinion, for example. He will teach them: by stealing medicine, throwing away lotion, costing them money. Also killing patients. Charlie seems jealous when a patient has a family who cares about him, and comes off as "You think the patient's getting better? I'll fix your wagon, you happy family."

Not to forget: Charlie is a liar. So how much can you really believe what he tells the author? The author writes as if he's in Charlie's head, but I doubt he ever got in there.

Graeber attempts to be cutesy and smart in his writing, which for this subject, with the defenseless victims and their families, is inappropriate. Also, this book had NO photos. As for the footnotes - OVERKILL. I think another reviewer said it - why didn't he just include what he said in the footnotes in the paragraph? It was a pain to keep turning to the back of the book, figuring out which chapter I was in, forgetting the footnote number, looking back at the number and then trying to find it again in the footnotes. Take a hint, Graeber, for your next book. And if there is one, pick a more interesting murderer.

As a former reporter covering the Charles Cullen case on the Pennsylvania side, I found myself fascinated and frustrated at the motives and methods of this prolific serial killer nurse and the courageous attempts by other nurses who tried to stop him in spite of risks to their own employment and safety. Graeber, the only reporter to whom Cullen granted an interview following his arrest and conviction, tells the story well, with surprises even to veterans involved in the case. I read every word and still wanted more. Thank you Charles Graeber, Amy, Tim and Danny for not giving up.

This is an amazing story of how money trumps accountability and how a crazy murderer can be passed along from hospital to hospital without any consequences. Even with Amazon Prime I couldn't wait to read this after the 60 Minutes interview of Charles Cullen so I purchased it for My Kindle. I loved the meat of the footnotes and had no problem navigating back and forth. Especially with a book that you never want to put down. What a story. Time to hold these hospitals responsible for the total lack of responsibility they've shown.

This is an unbelievable criminal tale, hauntingly told. Graeber draws a stunning psychological portrait of a tormented soul whose personal suffering drives him to cold-bloodedly destroy innocent, vulnerable people. With each page, I read it with the fascination of someone coming upon a gruesome auto wreck, almost too horrified to look.

I will be looking for more books from this accomplished journalist.

The Good Nurse

Charles Graeber documents evil dispassionately in this true life documentary on the life of hospital shift worker and mass murderer Charlie Cullen. Each page is a compendium of facts that glide together the way a jeweler amasses diamonds before setting them into a climactic diadem. The book has a slow pace with a plot steadily bubbling to a boil. It's a masterwork of rising tension with signs of crackup everywhere. First a dead dog poisoned, children uncared for, important lapses in judgement, and what all first rate real life mysteries have - unheeded clues. Page 43 warrants a special OMG. After a criminal booking for stalking, Charlie is in a sanatarium and gets a call for hospital employment. At that point, Graeber drops one of his bombshells delicately, so that on page 47 we get "of course, George had no idea Charlie was killing people."

Even after administering drugs and failing to make chart notations, even after patient deaths, even after repeated firings, and subsequent re-hirings, the hospital system gave Charlie chance after chance to "improve". The book takes an absurdist turn as patient deaths continue, but Charlie is given a hiring bonus at St.Luke's Hospital, one of the nation's top100 medical facilities. He kills several people there, is caught stealing massive quantities of powerful drugs, finds himself escorted out of the hospital by St. Luke's security personnel whereupon Graber's next masterpiece is unleashed. "Cullen sensed he would like working at Sacred Heart."

No criminal proceedings were ever instituted against any hospital that had hired Charles Cullen.

This is the story about Charlie Cullen, quite possibly the most prolific serial killer in the history of the United States. He was also a trusted nurse. During a period of several years, Cullen murdered hundreds of his patients, with often hard-to-detect methods like injecting insulin into their IV bags. For years he bounced from hospital to hospital, often attracting suspicion, but never being fully investigated. All the while, more and more people died at his gloved hands. His story is chilling, frightening, and hopefully will never be repeated.
Graeber's years of exhaustive research combine with deft storytelling to create a vivid picture of a very sick and twisted man, a medical system that protected him, and the stories of the brave investigators who finally brought him to justice. It's a tale of the worst in medicine, and worth a read by all doctors, nurses, and hospital administration. Unfortunately, the story does leave a bad taste in your mouth about the practice of medicine.

i loved this book. as a retired nurse i could well understand why other nurses on the units he worked on (at 9 different hospitals over 16 years) found nothing in his care suspicious; especially because he was a more than willing helper and loved to volunteer to do double shifts and extra shifts. THAT'S important to a nurse working on an under staffed unit; not the quirks of a fellow rn hovering a little too long over the med cart or the charting computer.

and I really enjoyed the revelation about the two faced lying/dishonesty of Somerset Medical Center, Charles Cullen's last job, trying desperately not to get any PR about employing a murderer which led to their failure to fire him as soon as their tepid and lackluster internal investigation began (due to the uncommon # of deaths and the huge amount of empty drug vials found in the 'sharps' box), and their 5 month delay before they called in the police AND their baldfaced denial of any pharmacy records being available if the death was over 30 days. This was untrue. The hospital also failed to mention that the computer charting records were available and just "might" help the cops investigate.

All the civil suits against the hospitals were settled out of court but there never was any criminal charges brought.

I hope Charles Cullen - now locked up for the remainder of his life - gets some much needed psychiatric help.

I did think the nurse who was Charles' friend, Amy, and who ended up being a confidential informant (the case could NOT have been made without her help) was psychologically messed up herself and i questioned the legality and ethics of her copying off all these patient records from the computer for the cops. what happened to patient confidentiality? There was never a subpoena or court order for them. She just stealthily took them off the unit. I also thought the author spent too long in adulatory statements; trying, i thought, to make her into some sort of selfless heroine.

The other minor criticism i have is that too much of verbatim interviews with Charlie, both by Amy and by the cops, was included in the book. It got tiresome.

but that aside, i thought it was excellently written and fast paced and suspenseful.

I thought this book was well researched & well written. It certainly held my interest. I was frustrated with the numerous footnotes, too. I actually didn't know they were in the back of the book, until I got to the end, because I was so engrossed in the story. It was definitely a page turner! I was not familiar with this case until I saw the book being released.

I have been a Registered nurse in Texas for almost 40 yrs, & worked in surgical ICU for 20 yrs. I also worked during the same years that Cullen was on his murder "spree." We had a severe shortage of nurses in Texas, as well; especially critical care nurses. I also worked with a nurse that we suspected of "doing something" to our patients, when she covered for us, when we were on breaks. (She also worked the night shift) I was shocked that Cullen literally got away with murder @ multiple facilities for 16 yrs. His methods of poisoning were incredulous & the drugs he used were drugs that I would never have thought another nurse would ever think of using to murder patients. (Digoxin, Insulin, Propanolol,& Lidocaine) We also used a Pyxis, & it never occurred to me to cancel an order, or sign for a medication & then, take another medication that was in the same drawer. I was also taught in nursing school to never give a medication that someone else had drawn up or mixed. Now, I don't know how you could avoid this with the hospital pharmacies mixing the IV fluids, antibiotics, etc... It is chilling to think that a nurse could actually get away with this for that long & not be reported to the board of nursing. I know the BON in Texas is a very powerful legislative organization, as another reviewer previously commented... The hospital where I worked had a more active administration & obviously better quality controls in place, than the facilities where Cullen worked. (There is also a well known "black list" in San Antonio, that facilities use to not hire a nurse suspected of any adverse behavior). Nurses "job hop" from hospital to hospital, so, that would not be suspicious behavior. We are all looking for that "perfect" job. I would have been suspicious of Cullen, from the very beginning, just with the amount of codes that occurred while he was on duty or shortly after he left. There is a case here in TX with a nurse convicted of killing children; Genene Jones. She was an LVN, & worked in pediatric ICU @ a teaching hospital in San Antonio for several years. She also had the "God" complex, & was a societal misfit, like Cullen. She is eligible for parole in 2017, due to a law that was passed, when she was convicted, allowing prisoners "early release" to relieve overcrowding in the prisons. The doctors & several nurses were suspicious of her from the very beginning. I worked with nurses who had worked with her, so, maybe we were a little more astute about this kind of nurse, since it was literally happening in our "backyard." The hospital never reported Genene Jones to the TX BON & she was caught only when she went to work for a new pediatrician, in a small town, & had babies coding in the office after being given routine immunizations. She was injecting Succinylcholine into the babies. "Sux" is a paralytic agent we used to intubate patients. I remember thinking @ the time, why would a pediatrician even have this medication in their office?? I certainly feel for the families who were victims of Cullen, but, @ least he will never see the light of day in this lifetime. It's very scary to think a nurse, especially one working with the very sickest patients, could do something like this, but, even more incredulous that the hospitals never said anything to each other, or reported him to the BON! I think the public needs to be aware that there are good & bad nurses & doctors out there, & it is ok to question them. It certainly opened my eyes! Thanks for enlightening us about this case.

As a Registered Nurse in the ER this book was captivating, chilling and a real reminder of how different we as humans can be. I wish there was more information on what drove Charlie to do these things and how he was able to sleep at night. He truly was playing god with lives in the balance and it seems no or little remorse for his very permanent and drastic actions.
True page turner as you are waiting for the moment of discovery.

This book outlines in great detail how the administrators at Somerset Medical Center closed ranks and did everything possible to keep this case out of the public eye. Dr Marcus, Exec directory of the NJ Poison Control Center, was a hero in this book, without him the Somerset execs would have done nothing except push Charles Cullen on to his next assignment. Especially appalling was how the Risk Manager Mary 'Lund' Bollwage (who since then has changed her from Lund to Bollwage) lied to investigators and told them that only 30 days of data was available from the med dispensing system which would have provided a valuable audit trail. This was an an outright lie (see p. 174)and she still works there, a VP no less, absolutely disgusting how the hospital administrators closed ranks. I found the book to be a great read of a sad but true story.