When Nancy Cutting received a call almost three years ago from a nurse informing her that her husband had died at a veterans hospital, she was overcome with grief.
Now, she's overcome with anger, having come to believe that the nurse who called that day is the same woman authorities have charged with killing three patients at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospital - including Cutting's husband - and trying to kill two others.Kristen Gilbert was charged with three counts of murder in a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Tuesday. She was also charged with attempted murder, retaliating against a federal witness and obstructing justice. A hearing is set for Dec. 7.
Prosecutors said she used epinephrine, a drug that can overstimulate the heart, on all five patients. If convicted, she could face the death penalty.
"The death penalty is there - I think she should get it," Cutting said Thursday.
Federal prosecutors have accused Gilbert of murdering Kenneth Cutting, a 41-year-old invalid, after asking a supervisor if she could leave early if he died.
"She called me - Kristen Gilbert. She called me herself and said he died, and I guess it was right after that that she took off," Cutting told the Boston Herald.
Kenneth Cutting had no known heart problems when he died Feb. 2, 1996, after going into cardiac arrest.