Joseph Francis O’Neill was a 79-year-old man from West Islip who entered Good Samaritan Hospital on September 21, 1987, with severe gastrointestinal problems and was placed in the intensive and cardiac care unit. By the end of that night he was dead after a sudden respiratory collapse that, in later investigation, fit a pattern of manufactured emergencies on the ward.

An internal inquiry and police probe followed after another patient survived long enough to say he saw a man in a white coat inject something into an IV line before the patient became breathless. Forensic testing later detected the muscle-paralyzing drug Pavulon in multiple exhumed patients, including O’Neill. Nurse Richard Angelo was arrested and ultimately convicted in multiple cases tied to similar incidents, but he was found not guilty on the charges connected to O’Neill.

O’Neill’s death remains tied to the larger investigation but was not resolved by a conviction in his specific case. Does anyone have information about O’Neill’s final hospitalization or contacts who might shed light on that night?