Dialysis nurse faces death penalty for killing four patients by injecting bleach

[Bill Peckham]

Lufkin TX dialysis nurse faces death penalty
By Bill Peckham

The Lufkin Daily News is reporting that Kimberly Clark Saenz a former employee of the DaVita Lufkin dialysis unit has been indicted by a grand jury for capital murder and aggravated assault. The Lufkin Daily News has a summary of the story and RenalWEB has been keeping a time line of events. This blog followed this story pretty closely last year; DSEN was the first to report the possibility that bleach was involved.

This is going to be a capital case - which means Saenz could face the death penalty in a state known for carrying out the death penalty. No doubt the case will receive a lot of coverage perhaps putting the provision of dialysis under a media spotlight. One issue that remains unaddressed is that Lufkin TX DaVita unit problems preceded employment of Saenz.

[MandaMe1986]

What? Wow I hadn't heard about this. Thanks I am gonna go look it up now.

[Beth35]

Oh great.  As if we didn't have enough to worry about.  Now we have to worry about nurses trying to kill us?  Add that to the list of ways we could die.  How scary.  Some people are just SICK!

[twirl]

I hope the nurse burns in hell

[willieandwinnie]

I hope the nurse burns in hell

That would be too good for her.

[Tinah1968]

She deserves the Death Penalty and living in TEXAS I know they could care less that it is woman they will still do it... We are still and EYE for an EYE State... Who is she to determine if someone should live or die.  Just like someone killing another human just because of road rage or for a car.. Makes no sense to me.

[MandaMe1986]

New Mexico is  a Hippie State so we love everyone. But Oh man that woman needs to get the worst they can give someone.

[Bill Peckham]

Renal Business Today has posted the full official DaVita statement following Saenz's indictment.

http://www.renalbusiness.com/hotnews/davita-lufkin-statement.html
04/01/2009

Editor’s Note: The following is a statement from DaVita regarding yesterday’s indictment of capital murder for Kimberly Saenz, a former nurse at DaVita’s Lufkin, Texas, dialysis clinic. Saenz allegedly injected 10 dialysis patients with bleach, resulting in five deaths.

Yesterday’s Grand Jury indictments of a lone individual for murder of patients at the LufkinDialysisCenter in 2008 is a painful reminder of the terrible tragedy that has impacted our teammates, our patients, their families and our community.

We are certain yesterday’s announcement also comes with mixed emotions for the victims’ family members. Our sympathies and prayers go out to each and every one of them.

This lone individual’s alleged intentional and deceptive acts have caused incredible grief for the victims’ family members, the Lufkin community and the caring teammates who work at the LufkinDialysisCenter. We hope yesterday’s announcement will be the beginning of the justice process that will hold this individual accountable for her heinous acts and begin the process of healing.

This past year has been a difficult time for the DaVita family. As events unfolded at the clinic last year, we contacted the Lufkin Police Department immediately upon becoming aware of the alleged criminal behavior that is the subject of the indictments yesterday. Since then, we have worked closely with every law enforcement official and State authority investigating the situation in order to know exactly what happened. We commend our teammates who, during the early stages of this investigation, carefully preserved evidence that helped law enforcement officials do the important work that led to yesterday’s charges.

Specifically, we understand the Grand Jury has issued an indictment for capital murder for the death of five patients and, further, five additional indictments for aggravated assault.

We are grateful for the Lufkin Police Department’s diligence in pursuing their investigation and seeking these additional charges on this individual. The LufkinDialysisCenter family has cooperated extensively in the investigation, including providing full access to our center and staff and securing and preserving physical evidence to share with police investigators. We want to thank them for their work and support in this matter as well. Our patients and their caregivers have been outraged at how the alleged actions of one person have caused so much pain and trauma to so many.

The LufkinDialysisCenter, with the approval of the Texas State Department of Health, has been open for several months and is providing quality care for Lufkin’s dialysis patients in a secure, state-of-the-art environment. The LufkinDialysisCenter’s 12-year tradition of delivering dedicated care to those afflicted with kidney disease and providing quality dialysis services to our patients is once again moving forward.

We are grateful to all our patients and the Lufkin community for their continued support.

[RightSide]

This sounds like the plot of a 1978 Michael Crichton movie, "Coma":

In a hospital, a mysteriously high number of irreversible comas from surgery leads to uncovering a plot to deliberately make surgery patients brain-dead so as to be able to steal their organs and sell them on the black market for organ transplants.