Charles Cullen, a nurse, says he could not watch his patients suffer. All that he wished for was to end their suffering somehow. And he did end their suffering. By killing them. Compassion be damned. Capturing The Killer Nurse is a true crime documentary on Netflix. It comes right after the splendid movie, Good Nurse, starring Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne. Charles Cullen's voice plays in the background, taken from Police archives, as he stands above his patients, looking down on them. More like a grim reaper, than the savior he imagined himself to be. When Charlie was caught he was working with Amy Loughren and Donna Hargreaves, at Somerset Medical Centre in New Jersey. The year was 2003. The three quickly became good friends. They would call themselves the Three Muskateers of the ICU. Their knowledge and experience and easy camaraderie made work seem easy and bearable. Amy and Charlie became good friends. She confided her problems in him. She was suffering from cardiomyopathy and would often have bouts of palpitations and breathlessness, forcing her to stop working. Charlie, held her hand through such episodes, offering her his company and friendship.
But things get murky when a patient, Reverand Gall, who had been doing much better, one day suddenly dies. His toxicology report showed high amounts of Digoxin, a drug he wasn't even prescribed. When suspicions arise and the police get involved, secrets that have been kept safely, start showing their faces. When two cops from different states meet, Danny Baldwin and Tim Braun, they realize that this is much bigger than an accidental overdose. Charlie had been present at hospitals as a nurse, where numerous patients died of an overdose of drugs. He had also been accused of stealing drugs before. But since he kept moving and the healthcare of the US turned a blind eye to these isolated incidents, Charlie was never caught. The failing healthcare system, and the lack of healthcare workers, enabled Charlie to continue his killing spree.
When his best friend Amy confronts him, she looks into a dark abyss. Not a monster, not the devil, but an apathetic human. Even though he believed otherwise.
Our obsession to peek into the heads of serial killers and Netflix's obsession to feed ours has forced the latter to release a movie and a documentary about the same killer back-to-back. But when a movie, with an excellent cast, and an amazing script already exists, did we need two reminders of the existence of cruelty?
By SB
