Former W.Va. nursing assistant gets 7 consecutive life sentences in veteran deaths, including former Westmoreland man

The daughter of a former Westmoreland man had strong words Tuesday for the nursing assistant at a West Virginia veterans hospital who killed her father and six others by giving them insulin they did not need.

“You took some of the greatest men of their time … and you preyed on them when they were at their weakest, and for that you are a coward,” said Melanie Proctor, daughter of Felix McDermott. “May God forgive you, as I never will.”

A federal judge in West Virginia sentenced Reta Mays to seven consecutive life sentences for causing the deaths of seven veterans, including the 82-year-old McDermott, a former Ruffs Dale resident who died April 9, 2018. She was sentenced to a consecutive sentence of 20 years for an eighth patient who died in June 2018, but authorities could not determine if his death was the result of the insulin.

Mays worked the night shift at the Louis A. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Clarksburg, W.Va., located nearly two hours south of Pittsburgh. Investigators said she gave insulin to patients who were neither diabetic nor prescribed insulin between July 2017 and June 2018. She was indicted in July and pleaded guilty the same day to seven counts of second-degree murder and a single count of assault with intent to commit murder.

In addition to the prison sentences, Mays also was ordered to pay $172,000 in restitution.

“I know there’s no words I can say that would offer the families any comfort,” Mays said, apologizing through tears while wearing orange prison garb. “I don’t ask for forgiveness because I don’t think I could forgive anyone who did what I did.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jarod Douglas called Mays’ actions “shockingly horrific.”

“The predator’s prey was easy — vulnerable in age, isolation, mental and physical condition,” Douglas said. “The results were utterly final.”

Judge Thomas Kleeh agreed, calling the case “unprecedented” and describing Mays as a “monster.”

“You’re the worst kind, you’re the monster no one sees coming,” he said.

Defense attorney Jay McCamic said Mays, who is a military veteran, has dealt with mental health issues since the 1990s and was being treated by the same hospital where she worked at the time of the deaths. He pointed to the stress of the job coupled with Mays’ mental health issues as a potential factor.

“Many, many people ask why, why did Reta do this,” McCamic said. “Unfortunately, why is not a question that can be answered. Reta doesn’t know why, her family doesn’t know why, no one knows.”

Several family members of the victims testified prior to Mays’ sentencing. Many, including Proctor, asked that Mays be sentenced to life in prison.

McDermott was an Army veteran who served in Vietnam and retired as a sergeant after 20 years, according to his obituary. He served in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard afterward and worked as a truck driver.

“He was a strong, hardworking family man, a proud Army veteran with 20 plus years and, most of the time, an ornery character who would give anybody a helping hand,” Proctor said.

His grandchildren called him “Snappy Pappy,” and three great-grandchildren have been born since his death, she said.

“She stole the rights of us to protect him like he protected us our whole lives,” Proctor said.

She filed a wrongful death claim against Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie last year. That matter has been settled, according to federal court filings. No details of the settlement were available.

McDermott was admitted to the hospital for shortness of breath and concern for food aspiration pneumonia on April 6, 2018, according to the lawsuit. He was placed on antibiotics.

Three days later, he was restless and in pain. A test showed he had severe hypoglycemia, or lower than normal blood sugar. An autopsy performed more than six months later showed McDermott had received an insulin injection, the lawsuit said. His death was ruled a homicide. He is buried in Westmoreland County Memorial Park in Hempfield.