Lexington nurse accused of killing patient worked at 2 hospitals
Eyvette Hunter (Fayette County Detention Center photo)
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A Lexington nurse who was indicted Monday on charges of murdering a patient at Baptist Health Lexington had worked at the University of Kentucky‘s main hospital until the charge was filed, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports.
“Eyvette Hunter, 52, was charged with murder for allegedly committing intentional medical maltreatment, causing a 97-year-old patient’s death on May 5,” Christopher Leach reports. “The patient, James Morris, died as ‘a direct result’ of Hunter’s actions on April 30, Lexington police said in a news release Tuesday. Hunter was arrested on Tuesday and is being held at the Fayette County Detention Center on a $100,000 bond, according to jail records.”
UK spokesman Jay Blanton confirmed to Leach that Hunter was also working at the Albert B. Chandler Hospital as a traveling nurse, placed by an outside agency, from November 2021 to the date of her arrest. Blanton said she was immediately released from her duties after UK HealthCare learned of her suspension by the Kentucky Board of Nursing and the indictment Tuesday.
Those records show that Hunter previously held nursing licenses in other states, but did not face discipline from boards in those states, Leach reports. Blanton and a Baptist Health spokesperson told Leach that Hunter had no maltreatment incidents before the one alleged. She was licensed as a registered nurse in Kentucky in 2018 and as a licensed practical nurse in 2007, state records say.