Former Nurse Kimberly Saenz Charged With Murder After Injecting 10 Patients With Bleach

Kimberly Saenz, a 35-year-old former nurse, has been charged with injecting 10 patients with bleach, resulting in the death of 5. The Texas dialysis clinic where she worked, DaVita Inc, had to be shut down following a spike in deaths over a period of four weeks. In fact, with 19 deaths in five months, the clinic had a mortality rate 7.1% higher than the state average.

Police say they have two witnesses who claimed to see Saenz draw bleach into syringes before injecting them into patients, and traces of bleach were later found on syringes and dialysis lines at the clinic. 

Saenz has been charged with one count of capital murder, which includes the five patients who died, and five counts of aggravated assault.

In a statement, DaVita did their best to drive home the fact that Saenz acted alone and that her actions were inconsistent with the clinic’s usual practices:

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 Lufkin Dialysis Center.

Caring teammates who somehow missed the fact that a nurse had been injecting patients with bleach over the course of a month? We wonder if she’s been trying to act as an “angel of mercy” for patients she felt were suffering. Either way: This is just like the plot of a Joyce Carol Oates story we’ve been trying to get out of our heads for years. Thanks for nothing, Kim.

Former Texas nurse charged with killing 5 patients [AP]