Former respiratory therapist involved in 'medically suspicious deaths' at Missouri hospital pleads guilty

A former respiratory therapist at a Missouri hospital has pleaded guilty in relation to two deaths that occurred at the hospital, CBS News reported.

Jennifer Hall, 42, pleaded guilty on Friday to reduced first-degree involuntary manslaughter counts in the deaths of 75-year-old Fern Franco and 37-year-old David Wesley Harper. She also pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree assault.

Franco and Harper died in what was initially described as "medically suspicious" events.

"From December 2001, when Hall started working at the hospital, until she was placed on administrative leave the following May, there also were 18 cardiac arrests or 'Code Blue' events, up from an average of one a year before then," CBS News' report stated. "The case was revived after an analysis of Franco's tissue samples found morphine and a powerful muscle relaxant used in anesthesia in her system. Neither drug was prescribed or ordered for her by her doctors, investigators said."

Other families of patients who died during Hall's tenure have sued the hospital.