Nurse Indicted In Death of Station Owner

Bill Norman

An Horry County, NC grand jury has indicted a suspended nurse in the death of a North Myrtle Beach radio owner/personality, who was her patient, last year, according to court records.

Janet Kupka, 54, of Myrtle Beach was indicted on a charge of first-degree assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, according to a story at myrtlebeachonline.com.

Kupka’s nursing license also was suspended Dec. 13 until the charges are resolved, according to the state Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

Police arrested Kupka on Dec. 5 after allegations that she gave Bill Norman too much medication while he was being treated at Grand Strand Regional Medical center after suffering a stroke in October. Kupka has been free on $20,000 since her arrest.

Norman was the owner of Norman Communications’ WNMB-AM 900 and co-owner of WVCO-FM 94.9 “The Surf.”

Janet Kupka

An investigation into Norman’s death began on Oct. 19 – five days after the 63-year-old’s death – after police received a report from hospital officials that a patient possibly was over medicated.

Kupka told a witness that she had given the victim 20 mg of morphine, which was a dose much higher than what had been prescribed and possibly life-threatening, according to the report. Later the same day, the witness said Kupka took a bottle and tubing of Diprivan, which is a general anesthetic, from another patient’s room and went into Norman’s.

Norman’s health monitors sounded, and the witness told police that Kupka was in his room and said she had given him the Diprivan , according to the report. Norman died a short time later.

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