Woodstock Residence Suspicious Deaths Bring Back Memories of Orville Lynn Majors The So Called Angel of Death

Ms. Calabaza sent a story about some suspicious deaths in a Woodstock nursing home in Illinois. It brought back memories of a male nurse accused of killing residence in an Indiana town. Orville Lynn Majors in the mid 90's was accused of being "the Angel of Death." Majors, now 48, was a licensed practical nurse in the western portion of Indiana. The Linton, Indiana man (who worked at a hospital in Clinton, Indiana) was convicted of murdering patients at Vermillion County Hospital. He was only tried for six murders: however, he may have been involved in as many as 130 deaths between 1993 and 1995. Prosecution.

Prior to the Majors employment at Vermillion County Hospital, around 26 patients died annually. After Majors began caring for patients, the annual death rate increased to more than 100 per year. (More than one out of every four patients admitted to the hospital died. Almost twice as many patients died when Majors was on duty than with any other nurses.
Majors was the only treating nurse present with seven of the patients who died. Majors was accused of injecting potassium chloride into his patients. The license of Majors was suspended in 1995. In 1999, Majors was found guilty of murdering six patients, and was sentenced to 360 years in prison.

Recently, in McHenry County, publicity of five suspicious deaths at a nursing home, have raised public concern. Woodstock Residence, a McHenry County Nursing home, recently fined nearly $360,000 after regulators alleged that an employee used drug cocktails to ensure residents "would not be bothering her during her shift." The Illinois Department of Public Health concluded that use of drugs like morphine sulfate contributed to 5 deaths in 2006 at the facility. "She won't make it through the day," Marty Himebaugh, a 57 year old worker, allegedly told a co-worker. (Illinois state law prohibits using drugs to discipline nursing home patients or use of drugs for staff convenience.)

Himebaugh, a licensed practical nurse at Woodstock Residence, was fired Oct. 31, 2006. Himebaugh and Penny Whitlock, 59, the former director of nursing at the facility, were indicted in April on criminal charges alleging they endangered the lives of residents. They were not charged with directly causing resident deaths. Prosecutors believed there was not enough evidence to prove any of the patients were killed. (Himebaugh and Whitlock are pictured above courtesy of the Chicago Tribune.)

Himebaugh was charged with four counts of criminal neglect of a long-term care resident, one count of obtaining morphine by fraud and one count of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance.Whitlock of Woodstock was charged with five counts of criminal neglect of a long-term care resident and two counts of obstructing justice. Both women have pleaded not guilty and are presumed to be innocent unless otherwise proved in a court of law!

Woodstock, now Crossroads Care Center of Woodstock is appealing the fines. The facility is represented by attorney Meyer Magence.

Like the Majors case, civil litigation seeking monetary compensation has apparently been filed against woodstock. LINK.