Murder charged in hospital deaths

A former nurse at Nocona General Hospital has been indicted on two counts of capital murder, and more indictments are expected to follow. Vickie Dawn Jackson is suspected of killing patients by injecting them with lethal doses of Mivacron, a drug which stopped their breathing.

During a two-month period, 23 patients died at the small-town north Texas hospital, which has an average daily census of only 15 to 20 patients. At least 10 vials of Mivacron were found to be missing at the hospital during the same period.

The indictments are based on evidence gathered by the FBI, which exhumed the remains of 10 former patients who died suspiciously. Traces of Mivacron were found in the bodies.

Many of the elderly patients were ready to be released from the hospital at the time of their sudden death. The deaths occurred during the “graveyard” shift worked by Jackson. She responded to many of the code alerts to help “rescue” the patients affected.

Patient Donnelly Reid, 61, saw the nurse add a drug to his IV drip; the drug had not been ordered by his physician. His breathing slowed and he became unconscious. He was resuscitated, and later filed a claim against the nurse and the hospital, but he since has passed away.

Slack & Davis represents the estate of Donnelly Reid. The lawsuit contends that the hospital was negligent in its control of the drug.

Media Sources: FOX-7, CNN, AP wire reports, The Nocona News, Austin American-Statesman, Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle