KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Overland Park woman accused of a medical murder two decades ago has been ordered to stand trial.
A Livingston County judge found probable cause that Jennifer Anne Hall committed first-degree murder in the 2002 death of Fern Franco while working as a respiratory therapist at Hedrick Medical Center in Chillicothe.
Hall, 42, pleaded not guilty in May after being taken into custody by U.S. Marshals at a hotel near Interstate 435 and Metcalf Avenue.
She was denied bond at that time.
Hall will be arraigned Sept. 8.
She had worked at Hedrick Medical Center for six months before she was placed on leave three days after Franco died on May 18, 2002, according to a probable cause statement.
During Hall’s time at Hedrick Medical Center, there were a suspicious number of “code blues” — 18 — at a facility that averaged one per year. Nine patients died after coding during that time.
An autopsy showed two unprescribed drugs, succinylcholine and morphine, in tissue samples taken from Franco’s body.
Succinylcholine is a muscle relaxant that can stop a person’s breathing, and morphine is an opioid used to treat pain.
After Hall’s termination, the excessive number of “code blues” at the facility stopped, and an expert testified that “Hall’s proximity to the deaths exhibited 'a pattern that would happen less than one in a million times.’”
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