MERCER (AP) — Two former nurses at a Pennsylvania prison have pleaded no contest to reckless endangerment for removing an inmate’s oxygen supply without a doctor’s order in 2016.
Tammy Barrett, of Utica, and Kristina Lutgen, of Grove City, face up to two years in prison when they are sentenced as part of their plea deals.
The Meadville Tribune reports the women, who were registered nurses at the state prison in Mercer, were charged over the June 2016 death of Larry Griffin.
According to an arrest affidavit, they were accused of removing the inmate’s oxygen so his levels would drop and he’d be transferred out of the prison infirmary to an outside hospital.
Griffin’s death at a hospital was ruled as natural and caused by cancer.
A department of corrections investigation found the women removed his oxygen May 31 and weren’t checking his levels.
Calls seeking comments from the women’s lawyer weren’t immediately returned.
