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Eleven Life Terms for Killer Nurse

A nurse who confessed to murdering up to 40 patients is sentenced to 11 consecutive life terms. Charles Cullen`s sentence makes him ineligible for parole for nearly 400 years. Cullen kept his eyes closed as relatives of the victims confronted him at the hearing, calling him "the monster". Some 60 relatives of the victims appeared to hear the sentence handed down.

The 46-year old confessed to using lethal doses of medications to kill patients. Superior Judge Paul Armstrong said, "You betrayed the ancient foundations of the healing professions." Cullen will be sentenced at a later date for seven murders and three attempted murders in Pennsylvania. Some of the families hoped Cullen would give an explanation for his crimes, but he did not.

Mary Strenko, whose 21-year-old son was Cullen`s youngest victim, said, "I walk around with a hole in my heart." Dolores Stasienko, the daughter of victim Giacomino "Jack" Toto, 89, said, "He will always be known as the monster." Strenko`s son was killed the same year. Cullen told police, when he was arrested in December 2003, that he only killed "very sick" patients. But some of them were not critically ill, and in any case the killing were not only murder but blatant violations of the Hippocratic Oath, designed to save lives