Charles Cullen: Who is the horrific hospital serial killer who inspired Murders Without A Prescription?

He was nicknamed “the Angel of Death”. Since this Wednesday, October 26, the film Murders without order is available on Netflix. A chilling thriller that traces the story of the serial killer Charles Cullen (played by Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne), male nurse from the 1980s, and the cause of the death of many patients.

His story had been told in the book The Good Nurse, written by Charles Graeber in 2013, from which the film is based. Passed by 16 hospitals between 1988 and 2003, Charles Cullen confessed to 29 murders and 6 attempted murders. However, experts had revealed that it may have actually killed up to 400 patientsmaking him one of the worst serial killers in history.

An (almost) undetectable modus operandi

To pass under the radar of the authorities, the murderer had developed a meticulous operating mode, allowing him not to need to touch his victims. To do this, he injected patients with lethal doses of digoxin (a medicine for the treatment of heart problems), adrenaline, or insulin in intravenous infusion bags, causing a slow death that was similar to cardiac arrest. Throughout his demonic journey, Charles Cullen was able to count on the laxity of the hospital establishments through which he passed. The latter had indeed doubts about him but none reported it, because they wanted to cover themselves concerning these suspicious deaths. In addition, at the end of the 90s, hospitals also suffered from a major shortage of manpower, which allowed the killer to change establishments regularly.

Charles Cullen was finally arrested in December 2003, after authorities managed to gather enough evidence to charge him. The murderer had been denounced by one of his colleagues who had discovered drugs in a trash can. He eventually managed to avoid the death penalty, and is now serving a life imprisonment without the possibility of release.