Respiratory Therapist Admits Responsibility for 2 Patient Deaths

A former respiratory therapist, Jennifer Hall, has pleaded guilty to reduced first-degree involuntary manslaughter counts in the deaths of two patients at a Missouri hospital two decades ago. The deaths of 75-year-old Fern Franco and 37-year-old David Wesley Harper were among nine patients who died at Hedrick Medical Center in Chillicothe over several months in 2002 in what charging documents describe as “medically suspicious” events. Hall was initially charged with two counts of first-degree murder.