Milton Poultney, 75, died on September 16, 1987, after what had been described as gallbladder surgery and removal of a benign tumor at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Islip. Family members expected a slow recovery, but Poultney suddenly went into cardiac arrest and died while appearing to improve.

Over the following weeks investigators noted a pattern of patients who seemed to be stabilizing and then abruptly crashing. A surviving patient reported seeing a heavyset, bearded man in a white coat tamper with an IV; that patient later tested positive for a paralyzing drug not prescribed to them. Prosecutors focused on nurse Richard Angelo, who was arrested in November 1987 after police said vials of paralytic drugs were found in his apartment and after recorded statements attributed to him described creating emergencies so he could respond as a rescuer.

Bodies, including Poultney’s, were exhumed and toxicology detected traces of Pavulon. Angelo was indicted on second-degree murder counts that included Poultney’s death, convicted at trial in 1989, and received a combined sentence in January 1990 that effectively exceeded six decades though state law capped actual exposure at 50 years to life. Poultney or remember his time at Good Samaritan in 1987?