Firings disclosed during murder trial

Twenty-two employees were fired and one committed suicide after an internal investigation at the hospital where Nevada Controller Kathy Augustine died, court testimony revealed.

Marline Swanbeck, an emergency room nurse, confirmed the previously undisclosed firings while under cross-examination by an attorney for Augustine’s husband, Chaz Higgs, a critical care nurse accused of killing Augustine with a paralytic drug. Swanbeck said the “terminations” were for a “breach of confidentiality.”

One person, a social worker, committed suicide, she said.