Eddie Redmayne stars in yet another Netlfix true-crime hit – and the inspiration for this one is truly grim.
The Oscar winner plays Charles Cullen, a nurse who slaughtered 29 patients over 16 years, often by administering fatal drugs.
The killer, who is still alive, admitted to his sick spree in 2003 after the victims mysteriously died on his watch in hospitals around New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
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One of the most chilling aspects of the show is that Cullen, 63, was allowed to keep practising despite the weird circumstances surrounding his patients’ demise – apparently, co-workers and the authorities were afraid of being sued for slander for speaking ill of him.
(Image: JoJo Whilden / Netflix)
The series also stars Jessica Chastain as a former colleague called Amy Loughren who ultimately helps brings the monster to justice.
Cullen’s murders inspired a book, too – The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder, written by journalist Charles Graeber.
The book was so creepy even horror maestro Stephen King praised it and compared it to his own killer nurse story, Misery, saying: “You think Annie Wilkes was bad? Check out this chilling nonfiction account of Charlie Cullen.”
(Image: JoJo Whilden / Netflix)
For background, Cullen had a “miserable” upbringing with both his parents dead before he even finished school. He then joined the military before being medically discharged for attempting suicide.
From there he trained as a nurse and ended up working in cardiac and intensive care units where patients were more likely to die unexpectedly.
His first victim was believed to be a man called John W Yengo Sr in 1988 who died from a rare allergic reaction to a type of medicine – it later transpired Cullen gave him enough drugs to stop his heart.
(Image: FilmMagic)
Years later it turned out the Cullen used a drug called digoxin – a drug used to treat irregular heartbeats.
Cullen was caught in the end with the help of Loughren, who was enlisted by cops after a string of unusual deaths.
She ended up having to wear a wire and tricking Cullen into confessing by “manipulatively” telling him she was the one under suspicion.
Speaking to 60 Minutes, she explained: “I wasn’t very honest with him, and there’s a part of me – I still feel guilty about that. I was manipulating him a bit.
(Image: NC)
“I told him the investigators were also looking at me, and how could he think that I wasn’t somehow going to be implicated?
“I remember saying to him, ‘So, who was your first victim? And was it a long time ago? Was it recent?’ And he started to talk.”
Eventually, Cullen confessed over seven hours and got 11 life sentences in 2006.
He remains locked up in Trenton, New Jersey.
The Good Nurse is streaming on Netflix now.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
