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

Danny begins to compile a list of Charlie’s past places of employment. When Tim realizes that Charlie’s first employer was also a hospital where he served as a rent-a-cop, he offers to go question their administration. Tim reflects on his past with Saint Barnabas as he drives, thinking about how much things have changed.

Tim asks one of his contacts at Saint Barnabas to pull Charlie’s files, hoping to avoid being interceded by a lawyer. Although the files have been redacted and are fragmented due to their age, Tim and Danny find that Charlie received multiple write-ups due to inappropriate medicine handling. Danny returns to Saint Barnabas with the file and speaks to staff in human resources, who clarify the shorthand on the write-ups and note that Charlie seemed unconcerned about patient wellness.

Tim calls Warren Hospital but learns that Charlie’s records there have been destroyed. Hunterdon Hospital reports that the company they store files with can’t locate Charlie’s employment record either. When Tim calls Morristown, he doesn’t mention that he’s a homicide detective, and they locate Charlie’s file for him. Tim and Danny also meet again with Paul Nittoly at Somerset, hoping to get files on the hospital’s internal investigation. However, Paul provides them with no information except that a private investigator didn’t find anyone at fault in the patient deaths. No reports, formal interviews, or notes exist. After the meeting, Tim and Danny express their frustration at receiving no additional information.

Danny talks to the Pennsylvania State Police and fills Tim in on the details of their meeting, having discovered that a St. Luke’s nurse named Pat Medellin reported Charlie to the hospital administration. Their internal investigation apparently didn’t find Charlie culpable, leading Pat to report his offences to the police. During interviews, hospital staff all commented that the patients seemed to be on the mend but coded and died shortly after Charlie checked their IV lines. The Pennsylvania police weren’t able to find anything to prosecute Charlie with, however, and he moved on to Somerset. The detectives speculate that the paperwork is intentionally vague.

Danny tries to make sense of the medical paperwork. The lack of Pyxis data complicates proving Charlie’s involvement in the overdoses. Danny contacts Mary and requests that she send him more information on Charlie, including the mortality rates of his shifts. Meanwhile, Charlie decides to stop using digoxin and instead starts overdosing patients with dobutamine.

Tim approaches the Somerset County Prosecutor, Wayne Forrest, about developing a taskforce to help process the massive amounts of information they have about Charlie. Forrest denies his request, so Tim assembles an informal taskforce with other detectives, needing the help. Their lack of a formally proven homicide, as well as the intense medical jargon associated with the case, slow their progress. They call the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, which can’t help them without a subpoena. However, they mention Poison Control, leading Danny and Tim to approach them. There, they find Dr. Bruce Marcus, who immediately gives them recordings of his conversations with Somerset administration from five months earlier.

Danny reviews the tapes from Bruce and discovers the hospital’s hesitation in involving outside departments and authorities. They approach the medical examiner with the patient files, and the men decide to focus their investigation on Reverend Gall, hoping to identify his death as murder and not accidental.

Danny plans a visit to Lucille Gall, Reverend Gall’s brother, to obtain permission for an exhumation. He’s cautious, knowing that his race and size make him threatening to the suburbanites in Lucille’s area. Danny tells Lucille about their suspicions, and she quickly becomes angry. A former nurse, she understands that Danny is implying that her brother was murdered. Danny channels her anger and receives permission to exhume the reverend’s body.