New wrongful death suit filed in case of former nurse Heather Pressdee

Another wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Sunnyview Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Butler Township in connection with the death of a patient cared for by former nurse Heather Pressdee.

The suit, filed Wednesday morning in Butler County Court, claims a 43-year-old man died May 1 at the center after Pressdee injected him with a lethal dose of insulin. Pressdee routinely abused the alleged victim, Nicholas Cymbol, with derogatory names, isolation and withholding of food and water, the lawsuit said.

Pressdee, of Harrison, is being held in the Butler County jail, charged with killing at least two nursing home patients in another facility. State prosecutors have connected her to the deaths of at least 17 patients at nursing homes in Westmoreland, Allegheny, Armstrong and Butler counties.

Sunnyview was hit with another lawsuit this month for Pressdee’s alleged involvement in the death of 80-year-old Marguerite Laskovich, who also died from an insulin overdose.

The latest suit was filed by Robert Peirce & Associates on behalf of Cymbol’s family. Peirce & Associates has filed four other lawsuits on behalf of patients they claim were killed by Pressdee. Three of the lawsuits are against Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation in Lower Burrell, and one is against Quality Life Services in Chicora.

At Belair, the other lawsuits allege Pressdee killed patients Jack Allen Rogers, Norman Paul Hendrickson and Marianne Bower.

“We were hired by the families of Heather Pressdee’s victims to get answers as to how she was permitted to continue working in these facilities, despite her erratic, disturbing and abusive behavior,” said Rob Peirce, managing partner of Robert Peirce & Associates. “The more our office has investigated, the more questions we have as to why these facilities allowed these tragedies to occur.”

According to the lawsuit, Sunnyview hired Pressdee in January 2023, despite her being fired or forced to resign from 10 local medical facilities in less than four years for abusive behavior toward residents and staff.

Once she was hired, Sunnyview administration failed to investigate Pressdee in connection with five suspicious deaths prior to Cymbol’s passing, many of which involved a similarly large dose of insulin, the lawsuit states. Two of the deaths resulted from air embolisms, caused by air blocking a blood vessel, including one on April 17 — two weeks before Cymbol’s death.

By that time, several Sunnyview staff members, including some who had worked with Pressdee at other facilities, raised concerns to management that she was killing residents, the lawsuit states.

Heidi Coyle, Sunnyview director of nursing, addressed those concerns by stating that Pressdee “does her work,” according to the lawsuit.

Sunnyview officials did not immediately return a request for comment.

In the days leading up to his death, Pressdee made comments that Cymbol “was going to be the next one to die,” according to the lawsuit. Despite this, staff and administration did not intervene, the lawsuit states.

Cymbol’s family is seeking damages for wrongful death, corporate negligence and vicarious liability.