The new Netflix film, The Good Nurse, is based on the 2013 true-crime book The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Graeber, which follows the crimes of Charles Cullen, a real-life serial killer who is believed to have killed nearly 400 people during his 16-year stint as a nurse. While Charles Cullen remained the center of fascination as a character shrouded in mystery from the beginning, a large part of director Tobias Lindholm's focus rests on the journey of Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain) who developed a close bond with Eddie Redmayne's Charles. Although Amy falls for the facade of an earnest and compassionate nurse created by Charles Cullen at first, with time she realizes that an evil beyond her imagination resides behind her dear colleague's friendly demeanor.
Instead of focusing on the initial crimes of Charles Cullen, The Good Nurse picks up from the beginning of the end for the notorious killer. Charles Cullen had a long history of being fired from hospitals where he worked, but his real downfall began when his colleague and close friend, Amy Loughren, started suspecting Charles' role behind the sudden surge in unexpected deaths. The Good Nurse portrays the events after Charles Cullen joins Somerset Hospital in New Jersey, where he meets Amy.
Was Amy Loughren A Real Person?
The real Amy Loughren worked with Charles Cullen at Somerset hospital, whose name was changed to Parkfield Memorial Hospital for the movie. In real life also, Amy Loughren lived with her two daughters and suffered from cardiomyopathy, a heart disease that makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood to the rest of the body. As portrayed in the film, Amy found it difficult to manage the work stress as she had to work in intensive shifts. Amy and Charles' friendship took off when Charles one day found Amy gasping for breath and promised to help until she got her health insurance. These events took place the way they were described in the film. Later, to keep his promise made on this night, Charles helped Amy by stealing medicines from the PYXIS MedStation using a hack. The fact that Charles knew how to hack the MedStation proved pivotal in Amy's investigation, as she knew it was possible to withdraw medicines without leaving a solid trace.
In The Good Nurse, Amy and Charles are shown to have developed a great bond during their time as colleagues. While a romantic angle is not completely established, Charles did manage to form a friendship that made Amy confident enough to introduce him to her daughters. In real life as well, Charles Cullen had become a close friend of Amy's before she discovered the reality behind the otherwise committed medical professional. On her official website, Amy Loughren has admitted to being close friends with Charles Cullen, who was a confidant for her. She has admitted to confiding in the man and adoring him before she discovered his true self.
How Did Amy Find Out About Charles Cullen's Crimes?
In Lindholm's film, although the focus remains on Amy's side of the story, it deviates a bit from how Amy discovered Charles Cullen's crimes in reality. In The Good Nurse, Amy remained unsuspicious of her colleague's actions long before she was finally convinced that Charles was indeed responsible for the mysterious deaths taking place. In fact, it's seen in the film that Amy chose to swear by Charles' innocence when Detectives Tim Braun (Noah Emmerich) and Danny Baldwin (Nnamdi Asomugha) questioned her for the first time while investigating the death of Mrs. Martinez, a 77-year-old woman who was presumably the first victim of Charles at Parkfield. Only after some time did Amy discover the small pieces of evidence that confirmed the crimes of Charles, as per the film.
According to Graeber's book, Amy became suspicious of her colleague's actions in reality when she looked over Charles' charts. Full of errors, the charts contained misspelled and misreported observations. More importantly, the system through which Amy accessed Charles' records showed unusual surfing behavior on his part as he spent a lot of time looking at the records of patients being taken care of by other nurses. A glaring piece of evidence that Amy found was the unusual combination of drugs that Charles ordered occasionally. According to Graeber's book, the list of drugs observed by Amy included medicines given to patients in the cardiac unit, an unusual occurrence, considering that Charles Cullen worked in the intensive care unit.
How Did The Police Arrest Charles Cullen?
In the film, Amy helps the detectives by wearing a wire to record Charles Cullen's confession, in the event that she manages to break Charles. The detectives aim to strengthen their investigation in order to implicate Charles Cullen for his crimes with Amy's help. In the scene that follows, Amy and Charles meet in a local diner where Amy persistently attempts to get the truth out of the seasoned killer. Lindholm's approach takes a more emotionally confrontational tone as Amy desperately tries to make Charles confess to his heinous crimes. In the film, while Charles is shown to thwart Amy's attempts, he does so against great resistance after enduring a significant turmoil within himself. It seems that Charles Cullen was on the edge of giving up but chose not to in the end.
Reality paints a different picture altogether as in an interview with Newsweek, the real Amy Loughren revealed that Charles Cullen was much calmer and composed during the events portrayed in the diner scene. Although Charles did not confess to his crimes both in film and in reality, he did so with relative ease in real life as compared to the tough battle he is shown to fight in the reel version. Thereafter, the events are quite accurate as shown in the film. Charles Cullen is arrested by the police soon after the meeting at the diner, and Amy visits her former colleague in the police cell where he confesses to Amy his crimes. The Good Nurse gives closure to Amy's story by stating that she received her heart surgery and lives in Florida. Amy and Charles' story did not end with the latter's arrest though, as Amy paid multiple visits to Charles during the trial and even exchanged a few letters.
Nicknamed the "Angel of Death," Charles Cullen is currently serving his 18 consecutive life sentences in New Jersey State Prison. As stated in the film's end, he is not eligible for parole until 2403. Amy lives in Florida with her children and grandchildren and is now pursuing a career as a Reiki master and meditation instructor. While Lindholm's film is very close to reality, it does take a few creative liberties as measures to ensure that the intended elements of the story come out in the best way. The Good Nurse presents a largely true depiction of events that led to the arrest of one of America's most notorious serial killers as the magnitude of his crimes continues to be a topic debated by experts.