New York: The Angel Of Death

When a “code blue” emergency sounded in the cardiac ward of Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip, N.Y., Registered Nurse Richard Angelo, 25, was often first on the scene, working feverishly to save the endangered patient. No wonder: Angelo regularly created those emergencies by injecting elderly patients with muscle-paralyzing drugs that led to respiratory failure. Then he would lead resuscitation efforts in a bizarre attempt to look like a hero to his co-workers.

The bearded nurse was found out when a 73-year-old cardiac patient experienced shortness of breath after he observed Angelo injecting a substance into his intravenous tube. Angelo confessed last week to giving 35 such injections this year. Authorities suspect that ten to 20 patients have died in the past three months from the lethal doses. The bodies of several will be exhumed to determine whether they were victims of a deadly bid for popularity.