The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder

Charlie falls in love with Michelle, but his intense emotions aren’t reciprocated. She ignores his frequent gifts and, when he confesses his love, starts to avoid him. He starts to call her repeatedly until Jerry, Michelle’s on-and-off boyfriend, answers the phone and tells him to stop. Charlie thinks that Michelle is sad but that he can save her.

In March 1993, Charlie begins to drive by Michelle’s condo. He spends a night driving between his house and hers, calling her each time he arrives back home. He breaks into her house and watches her sleep before calling her from a convenience store, where she explains that someone broke in. He confesses and gives her permission to call the police before returning home. The police call him and inform him of a warrant for his arrest. Charlie takes drugs before leaving for the station, intending to die by suicide, but isn’t formally arrested and is instead questioned about the evening. He calls his children’s babysitter for a ride to the hospital after the questioning concludes.

In April, Charlie is sent to Greystone Psychiatric Hospital, where he flourishes in the new environment and absence of stressors. In May, he receives a note to call Warren Hospital. Charlie suspects that the hospital has linked unexpected patient deaths with his presence. He’s astounded to learn that despite the drama he caused, which includes his stalking Michelle, he’s invited to return to work at the end of his hospitalization.

Charlie returns to his apartment and begins a garden because he seeks meaning in his life. Charlie is moved to the telemetry ward of Warren so that he doesn’t interact with Michelle. Here, patients who need to be monitored but no longer in critical condition wait to be moved elsewhere or released. As Charlie applies electrocardiogram electrodes to patients, he reflects on how this machine is like a lie detector test and on his own successful test, taken in an effort to maintain custody of his children. His court troubles encompass his stalking charge as well. Charlie tries to hire an attorney, but the lawyer quits after three days because Charlie is difficult to work with. He begins to write rambling letters before pleading guilty to a lesser charge. He attempts to die suicide, is sent to Warren, and is released the next day.

Charlie writes letters to the judge of his stalking case before visiting the counselor who will determine the custody arrangement for his divorce. The counselor notes that his frequent attempts to die by suicide are a form of attempted abandonment. This, in addition to Adrianne’s other evidence, prevents Charlie from gaining custody.

In September 1993, Charlie injects a patient named Helen Dean with digoxin, a drug that slows the firing mechanisms of the heart. Charlie asks her son, Larry, to leave her room before the injection. By the next day, her heart has stopped. Larry questions the hospital staff and reports Charlie to the police for murdering his mother. When Charlie returns to work and is questioned about her death, he denies everything. The coroner fails to test for digoxin and thus the death is ruled to be of natural causes. Charlie is placed on leave and again attempts to die by suicide.