| A federal judge gave the maximum sentence – seven life terms to be served consecutively – to a former nursing assistant who admitted to giving fatal insulin injections to multiple veterans at the VA Medical Center in Clarksburg.
“Miss Mays, several times your counsel has made the point you shouldn’t be considered a monster,” U.S. District Judge Thomas Kleeh said at the sentencing for Reta Mays on Tuesday.
“Respectfully, I disagree with that. You are the worst kind. You are the monster that no one sees coming and you have made liars of everyone who tells their kids that monsters don’t exist or evil doesn’t exist in this world.”
Mays' life sentences were for seven counts of second-degree murder. She also was sentenced to 240 months in prison to run consecutively with the life sentences for one count of assault with intent to commit murder.
Millions of dollars have been paid to families.
A federal probe has concluded that although former nursing aide Reta Mays bears ultimate responsibility for the murders of multiple veterans, missteps at the veterans hospital in Clarksburg opened the door to those tragedies.
“While responsibility for these criminal acts clearly lies with Ms. Mays, the OIG found inattention and missed opportunities at several junctures, which, if handled differently might have allowed earlier detection of Ms. Mays actions or possibly averted them altogether,” according to a report by the Office of Inspector General for Veterans Affairs. | 
