Published: October 15, 2009 09:43 am      

Nurse charged in killing patient released from jail

LEXINGTON — A nurse charged with murdering a patient at a veterans’ hospital was ordered released Wednesday, but under house arrest and electronically monitored pending trial.

U.S. Magistrate Judge James Todd said 32-year-old Maria Kelly Whitt would remain in the custody of her mother Bonnie Whitt of Mount Sterling. Todd’s ruling came after a two-part hearing concerning the September 2007 death of 90-year-old World War II veteran Jesse Chain and whether Whitt was a danger to others if released.

Prosecutors say Whitt gave Chain a series of morphine injections while he was at the Lexington Veterans’ Administration Hospital. Prosecutors say those injections led to Chain’s death.

Whitt, whose nursing license was suspended on Tuesday has pleaded not guilty. A grand jury indicted her earlier this month and her trial is scheduled for Dec. 17.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger West said prosecutors will not ask for the death penalty if Whitt is convicted.

“We’ve not sought that,” West said. “We will not seek that.”

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Special Agent Rick Ellison testified Wednesday that Whitt admitted giving Chain a series of at least six 10 milligram morphine shots within a period of just a few hours.

Whitt told investigators that she was trying to render Chain unconscious in his last hours of life so she could better tend to the other patients in her care, Ellison said.

“I would never intentionally do anything to hurt any patient in any way,” Ellison quoted Whitt as saying. “I thought I was doing it to help make him comfortable.”

Ellison also testified that Whitt told a Secret Service agent she was “overwhelmed” and “overworked” the day Chain died, even though duty records show she was carrying the same two- to three-patient load as the other nurses.

Whitt’s attorney, Patrick Nash, said Lexington police initially said the case was not a homicide. Federal criminal investigators became involved two months later when the Fayette County coroner ruled the death a homicide, Nash said.

“There were several points in this case where this was not a murder,” Nash said.

Nash also argued that Chain was given only hours to live the day he died and that no independent reviewer has looked over the medical equipment and records involved in the case.

“It’s a complicated case,” Nash said.

West said the case is simple — Whitt overdosed a dying man to free up time to care for other patients.

“She made a conscious, deliberate and intentional choice to cause the death of Mr. Chain,” West said.