1. Answer the following question using the case study if needed (images included) in detail: a) In the Chapter 8 case study, Charles Cullen administered many drugs to his victims, including the cardiac medicine Digitalis. The main active compound in digitalis is digoxin. Look up the structure of digoxin either online or in the textbook (be sure to cite your source), and identify any three functional groups in the chemical structure of digoxin. Indicate the number of rings (cyclic structures) present in the molecule as well.
1. Answer the following question using the case study if needed (images included) in detail: a) In the Chapter 8 case study, Charles Cullen administered many drugs to his victims, including the cardiac medicine Digitalis. The main active compound in digitalis is digoxin. Look up the structure of digoxin either online or in the textbook (be sure to cite your source), and identify any three functional groups in the chemical structure of digoxin. Indicate the number of rings (cyclic structures) present in the molecule as well.
1. Answer the following question using the case study if needed (images included) in detail: a) In the Chapter 8 case study, Charles Cullen administered many drugs to his victims, including the cardiac medicine Digitalis. The main active compound in digitalis is digoxin. Look up the structure of digoxin either online or in the textbook (be sure to cite your source), and identify any three functional groups in the chemical structure of digoxin. Indicate the number of rings (cyclic structures) present in the molecule as well.
1. Answer the following question using the case study if needed (images included) in detail:
a) In the Chapter 8 case study, Charles Cullen administered many drugs to his victims, including the cardiac medicine Digitalis. The main active compound in digitalis is digoxin. Look up the structure of digoxin either online or in the textbook (be sure to cite your source), and identify any three functional groups in the chemical structure of digoxin. Indicate the number of rings (cyclic structures) present in the molecule as well.
Transcribed Image Text:CASE STUDY: ADMINISTERING MURDER
Charles Cullen started his first career in the Navy aboard the submarine Woodrow Wilson. Despite
the psychological testing that all submariners must pass, it soon became apparent that Cullen
was not cut out for life underwater. Perhaps his father's death when Cullen was an infant, as well
as the recent loss of his mother in a car accident, led to his depression and a suicide attempt that
would result in his discharge from the Navy.
Cullen had always told people he wanted to be a nurse, and on leaving the Navy, he enrolled
in nursing school. His first job was at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ. His trouble
relating to patients and co-workers began to be noticed, however, and so he soon was working
the night shift. Hospitals often have difficulty staffing the night shift, and Cullen found freedom
working at night. The patients slept, the doctors came in only during emergencies, and
supervision was minimal.
Cullen worked at ten different hospitals during his 16-year career, and he almost always was
on the night shift in intensive care units. Nurses in these units have easy access to a wide range of
powerful drugs to respond quickly in case of an emergency. Further, death is not an unusual event
in these units, as they hold the most critical patients. Charles Cullen later would admit to
murdering at least 40 patients that he could remember. Experts familiar with the case, however,
estimate this number could be 300 or more.
How could Cullen administer fatal drugs to that many patients and not be noticed? As it turns
out, he indeed was noticed, and more than once. The family of Helen Dean, one of his early
victims, identified Cullen as the nurse who gave Dean an unapproved and undocumented
injection. Yet, an autopsy screening for the presence of 100 drugs revealed nothing unusual.
Fatefully, the screening did not look for some of the drugs that Cullen had access to at the
hospital.
What drug was missing from the screening? Why was Cullen allowed to continue
working at the hospital? These are questions that Helen Dean's family never was able
to get the hosnital administrators to satisfactorilyanswer
Transcribed Image Text:8.10 CASE STUDY FINALE:
ADMINISTERING MURDER
Charles Cullen, possibly the most prolific serial killer in the history
of the United States, narrowly escaped detection in 1993. Cullen
was witnessed giving an unknown, unauthorized injection to
Helen Dean, who had been recovering from cancer surgery. The
next day, she died. A sample of Dean's blood was analyzed for 100
possible drugs, but somehow, the very potent and readily
available drug digitalis was not among those screened.
Johll, Investigating Chemistry:
Introductory Chemistry from a
Forensic Science Perspective,
4e, 2019 W. H. Freeman and
Company
Digitalis is a powerful cardiac medicine used to treat
abnormal heart rhythms. When the heart muscle contracts,
calcium ions are released. Digitalis functions by increasing
intracellular calcium ion concentration, which will produce a stronger contraction. If given to a
healthy patient, however, digitalis can cause heart failure.
Inexplicably, Cullen apparently was never disciplined by hospital administrators for giving
Dean a shot that was not ordered. Further, Dean wasn't even a patient to whom Cullen was
assigned. With so little evidence, the county prosecutor dropped the investigation into Helen
Dean's death.
Sadly, this pattern would be repeated from one hospital to the next: A mysterious string of
deaths would place Cullen under suspicion, coworkers would take their concerns to
administrators, and Cullen would leave the hospital without any official record of misconduct.
Then, he would find employment at another hospital. In 2002, some nurses went so far as to
report their suspicions to the state police after hospital administrators failed to act on their
concerns. But, once again, Cullen slipped through the system and went on to a new hospital.
The final investigation, leading to Cullen's arrest, started in July 2003. The director of the New
Jersey Poison Information and Education System informed the Department of Health and Senior
Services about an unusual pattern of overdoses at Somerset Medical Center, where Cullen was
working. The director also indicated that hospital administrators had no intention of reporting
these unusual deaths to state officials. Charles Cullen was finally arrested on December 12, 2003.
Subsequent analysis of exhumed samples taken from victims has found toxic levels of digitalis in
many of his victims. Cullen is currently serving 11 life sentences and will not be eligible for parole
for 397 years.
Definition Definition Group of atoms that shape the chemical characteristics of a molecule. The behavior of a functional group is uniform in undergoing comparable chemical reactions, regardless of the other constituents of the molecule. Functional groups aid in the classification and anticipation of reactivity of organic molecules.
Expert Solution
This question has been solved!
Explore an expertly crafted, step-by-step solution for a thorough understanding of key concepts.
Need a deep-dive on the concept behind this application? Look no further. Learn more about this topic, chemistry and related others by exploring similar questions and additional content below.
