A former nurse’s assistant from a Veterans Affairs hospital in Clarksburg, West Virginia, could spend life in prison after administering lethal doses of insulin to seven patients.
Reta Mays, who worked for the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to seven counts of second-degree murder and one count of assault with the intent to commit murder after she was caught administering fatal levels of insulin to patients. Each second-degree murder charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison while the assault charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Mays, 45, was accused in court documents of administering lethal doses of insulin into eight patients from 2017 to 2018. As a nursing assistant, Mays was not authorized to administer drugs to any patients.
The investigation into Mays was triggered by wrongful death lawsuits from several victims’ families. Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, had urged Attorney General William Barr to expedite the investigation into the situation when the case lagged after being opened in July 2018. Manchin celebrated Mays’s day in court after years of FBI investigations.
“While overdue, today justice is finally being served,” Manchin said. “I hope today’s announcement brings some semblance of peace to their hearts and to the families who are still uncertain about the fate of their Veterans.”
Manchin worked with his fellow West Virginia Sen. Shelly Moore Capito, a Republican, to pass the Improving Safety and Security for Veterans Act in 2019. The legislation mandates that the Department of Veterans Affairs investigate the deaths in Clarksburg and present its findings to Congress to influence legislation to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.
Editor’s Note: This story’s headline has been updated to reflect that the woman who pleaded guilty is a former nursing assistant.
