Kimberly Clark Saenz preyed on patients while they were at their most vulnerable — during their dialysis treatment. n early 2008, however, lives were being taken at the DaVita Dialysis Center in Lufkin, Texas. A rash of cardiac events and fatal heart attacks were occurring at unprecedented levels. When investigators found out why, it was almost too much to believe: Nurse Kimberly Saenz was injecting bleach into the dialysis machines while patients were still hooked up to them.
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Unfortunately, as a result of severe depression, personal distress, and clearly other medical mental conditions, Ms. Saenz began taking Dialysis patients lives in the spring of 2008 at the DaVita Lufkin Dialysis Center. The center saw a mysterious uptick in patients getting ill and going into cardiac arrest during their treatments. EMS was called to the facility 30 times in April, according to CBS affiliate DFW. In the prior 15 months, they had only been called twice. Many of the cardiac events ended in death.
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For instance, on April 28, 2008, Ms. Saenz showed up to work and was told that she had been reassigned for the day to work as a Patient Care Technician. This did not sit well with Saenz, who felt it was beneath her. “You could tell she was upset,” Clinton later testified. Other people reported Saenz being “teary-eyed,” according to court documents.
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Later that day, two patients at the clinic saw Saenz prepare a bleach solution and pour it into a container on the floor. The witnesses said they saw her draw the bleach up into a syringe and then inject into the IV lines of two other patients receiving dialysis, according to the Associated Press. Both witnesses immediately told Amy Clinton, Clinic Manager, what they had seen, with one of them saying, “I’m a little nervous right now, and I’m worried because she's assigned to me,” according to court documents. Neither of the affected patients died, but grew ill and exhibited dangerous fluctuations in their blood pressure.
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Clinton confronted Saenz, who said she was using bleach to clean the lines of an unused dialysis machine, a common practice at the clinic, and used a syringe to get a precise measurement, which Clinton said was not company policy. She denied giving anyone medication or injecting bleach into their IV lines and was sent home for the day. Clinton then examined the bucket and syringes Saenz had been seen using, all of which tested positive for bleach.
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On May 30, 2008, Lufkin Police arrested Kimberly Saenz, then 34, and charged her with two counts of aggravated assault for the incidents of April 28, according to the Houston Chronicle. A year later, Saenz was indicted for the five deaths that occurred there in April 2008, and charged with one count of capital murder and five of aggravated assault. As of the writing of this article, Ms. Saenz was spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole, and 20 years for each count of aggravated assault, according to The New York Times. Multiple appeals to her sentence have been denied, including her most recent appeal which lead to us sharing this story.
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While the vast majority of Dialysis Patient Care Technicians and Nurses are phenomenal, there are some who are not - as in every industry. Patients must be on heightened alert during treatments to make sure that they are receiving the appropriate medications and avoid issues.
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