Murder in the ICU

Abstract

It all began innocently on the afternoon of June 18, 2003. Shirley Rendon was the poison information specialist on duty at the New Jersey Poison Center (also known as the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System, NJPIES), which was then located in its temporary quarters in the Stanley Bergen Building at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark. These were quarters shared with Newark’s Emergency Medical Services Medical Dispatch Center, a rather dark and depressing work area at the time. Shirley was a physician trained in medical school in the Dominican Republic. By her experience and ability to pass a national certification examination, she was certified as a Specialist in Poison Information by the American Association of Poison Control Centers.