Kentucky nurse charged for murder in death of 97-year-old patient

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A Kentucky nurse was arrested Tuesday on a murder charge in the death of a patient, police said.

Eyvette Hunter, 52, was indicted in the the death of James Morris, 97, the Lexington Police Department said in a statement.

Hunter, who was a nurse at Baptist Health Lexington, "intentionally performed actions of medical maltreatment" on April 30 and Morris died days later "as a direct result of those actions," the statement said.

Baptist Health said the hospital fired Hunter on April 30 and reported her to the Kentucky Board of Nursing.

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"The hospital has fully cooperated with the police investigation. Patient care and safety are always our top priorities," the hospital said in a statement to news outlets.

A Kentucky nurse has been charged in the death of a 97-year-old patient.

An order suspending Hunter’s nursing license on Monday said she is accused of administering a drug to a patient without a doctor's order.

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The suspension order said the patient, identified by court documents as Morris, was "agitated and aggressive" so Hunter contacted a physician and a nurse practitioner requesting medication to sedate him. They both denied the request, but the suspension order says Hunter withdrew a vial of medicine for another patient and administered it to Morris and then gave him food.

Another nurse found Morris a short time later having labored breathing and he died May 5. His cause of death was listed as aspirational pneumonia.

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It wasn't immediately clear whether Hunter has an attorney.