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Ex-LPN gets 360 years for murdering patients
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11-22-99 Brazil, Ind. Calling the murders of six elderly patients the "paragon of evil at its most wicked," Judge Ernest Yelton sentenced former LPN Orville Lynn Majors to 360 years in prison Nov. 15, the maximum penalty allowed under Indiana law. Majors was sentenced after being convicted on six counts of first-degree murder, all of which involved elderly patients at the then-Vermillion County Hospital in Clifton, Ind. The jury could not reach a verdict on a seventh count. Authorities believe Majors could be responsible for the deaths of as many as 124 more patients admitted to the hospital's ICU when he was on duty. All but two of the patients whose records were reviewed by authorities were elderly, said Betsy Fields, RN, an independent legal nurse consultant who was part of the prosecution's team of medical experts. "In my opinion, the punishment fit the crime," Fields said. "After going through 167 charts [of the other patients whose deaths were investigated], we found that the huge majority of individuals who died did not die the way people normally die." Fields said she felt the judge was "sending a message" by imposing such a strict sentence on Majors. Majors' defense attorney, Carolyn Rader, believes otherwise. "I don't think it was intended as a message," Rader said. "Who's it going to deter if it's intended to deter? I think [the sentence] was for the benefit of the family members in the audience. I think what was given a disproportionate amount of weight was the family members of the decedents, which is sad because most of the family members had very little to do with the decedents before they died."
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