Not Everyone Believes Charles Cullen Was a 'Mercy Killer'

Oct. 29 2022, Published 1:30 p.m. ET

Netflix is at it again with another true crime hit – this time, The Good Nurse follows the capture and arrest of nurse Charles Cullen, who is these days serving 18 consecutive life sentences for murdering 29 sufferers between New Jersey and Pennsylvania between 1988 and 2003.Tom, a New Jersey native, admitted to murdering 40 patients – and it's believed he’s been concerned with no less than four hundred altogether.

So, why did Charles Cullen kill his patients? Here is what’s been stated in regards to the matter.

Charles Cullen spoke out on ’60 Minutes’ back in 2013.

During an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes again in 2013, Charles opened up to journalist Steve Kroft about his first nursing process in 1988 at New Jersey’s Saint Barnabas Medical Center – where he labored on a burn unit and took the lives of his patients the use of a lethal combination of substances like insulin and digoxin and injecting them with an IV bag.

“There was a lot of ache, a lot of struggling and I did not cope with that as well as I assumed I would," Charles recalled. "It's difficult for me to go back in time and think about what things have been working via my thoughts at the time."

He also admitted in the interview he thought he was “helping” the patients in a way, as they “weren’t suffering anymore.”

However, not ALL his victims were “suffering.”

As it was also revealed not all Charles' murder victims were nearing the end of their lives, he changed his tune in the interview when it came to reflecting on killing those types of patients.

"I will be able to't... my purpose right here is not to justify, what I did there is no justification. I just think that the one thing I will be able to say is I felt beaten on the time," he shared. "Like I stated I will't, it was roughly I felt like I needed to do one thing, and I did, and that's the reason not a solution to anything."

Charles' former friend and fellow nurse Amy Loughren never believed the “mercy killing” claims.

Amy Loughren worked with Charles at Somerset Medical Center in New Jersey and ultimately led police to his capture and arrest. She spoke with Newsweek at the BFI London Film Festival and disputed his claims he was trying to help the victims.

"I think that Charles Cullen was painted out to be a mercy killer, and there was not anything merciful about what he did," she explained. "When we sterilize a sufferer and make it that 'oh, neatly he just gave them some medication after which they went to sleep,' that is not what took place. So, I do want people to understand that the ones households need to have their day, to say they mattered. They mattered."

Police officers who were part of the case have their theories.

Somerset County detectives Tim Braun and Daniel Baldwin also shared their beliefs at the time during the 60 Minutes special, stating they believe it provided a “sense of control.”

"He could save a life or take a lifestyles, and in lots of instances, he selected to take a life," officer Braun stated.

Charles Graeber – who wrote ‘The Good Nurse’ – agrees.

“If the rest of his life was spinning out of his control, if he was losing custody, if he was feeling depressed, if his love life was in the toilet, he could poison patients, he could save patients, he could make decisions, he had an arena in which he mattered and where his actions had definite consequence,” The Good Nurse writer Charles Graeber shared with Steve Kroft right through that very same CBS 60 Minutes special. “It was never about someone but Charles Cullen. He did what he did as a result of his personal needs, his personal compulsions.”

The Good Nurse is currently streaming on Netflix.

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