Priest’s sister questions a system that allowed nurse to kill patients
 

By Chris Donahue
Staff Writer

The family of Father Florian J. Gall is seeking answers to several questions regarding the hiring of his alleged murderer by Somerset Medical Center in Somerville.

Charles Cullen, 43, told authorities he is responsible for the deaths of as many as 40 people while working as a nurse in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Cullen is charged with one murder – Father Gall’s – and attempted murder of another patient at the same hospital.

Father Gall, episcopal vicar of Hunterdon County and pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish., Whitehouse Station, died June 28 in Somerset Medical Center after what was then called a brief illness. He would have turned 69 years old on Dec. 27.

Father Gall’s sister, Lucille, a member of Holy Trinity Parish, Perth Amboy, and the family’s attorney, Michael Barrett, met with reporters Dec. 16 in the Woodbridge office of the law firm of Wilentz, Goldman and Spitzer. Gall, a registered nurse who works in St. Mary School, South Amboy, had appeared on NBC’s The Today Show earlier in the day.

"We have some concerns regarding the circumstances involving Father Gall’s death and matters we intend to look into on behalf of the family in the coming weeks and months," Barrett said.

Specifically, the family wants to know:

— Why was Cullen fired by other hospitals?

— What kind of checking was done by Somerset Medical Center into Cullen’s past employment?

— What procedures does Somerset Medical Center have for dispensing and requesting medication?

— How did the hospital discover the overdose of the medication that resulted in his death?

Lucille Gall said she wasn’t notified about the investigation into her brother’s death until October, when the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office requested permission from the family to exhume her brother’s body.

"We may have to sue the hospital to get the information," Barrett said. "We’ll need to have the ability to place people under oath…Suing the hospital for damages is not even on the horizon at this point…. We want people to be taken to task to be asked the important questions and we’ll see what their responses are to our inquiries."

Lucille Gall said she had visited her brother every day until he died and remembers Cullen taking care of her brother only once. She saw him several other times.

"I can’t believe that a nurse, a professional who’s taught to take care of people and help them to get well, could do this," Gall said.

Father Gall was on a ventilator and in a drug-induced coma when she last saw him, but the doctors told her he was recovering.

"The night before (he died), he opened his eyes wide and I said, ‘I’m here. Don’t worry about it.’"

She would try to stimulate her brother by pinching him to let him know that she was there.

"No one has the right to play God. There have been cures for people who have terminal cancer. No one has the right, no matter who you are, to take someone else’s life, and especially a professional who’s taught to save lives, should never do that."

Gall said being a member of the clergy was his life.

"He was a priest’s priest," she said. "He was nationally known because he was very involved with music and ministry. He was very involved with his parish. He was very current with anything concerning the liturgy. When priests had questions they would call him because he was, ‘The Liturgist.’"

Gall said after open-heart surgery early this year, he was home recovering when he received a call from the parish because they needed someone to say Mass.

"They called at 8 a.m. and he said, ‘I’ll get dressed and come over.’ He wasn’t released from the doctor yet. That’s the kind of person he was."

"He would do anything for anybody. He ran errands for everybody, anywhere."