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Nurse avoids overdose charges Wire and staff reports PORTLAND � A grand jury has refused to indict a male nurse on criminal charges in the deaths of four nursing home patients who allegedly died of morphine overdoses. The terminally ill patients died at the Sheridan Care Center between November 1997 and January 1998. The patients included John Avery, the father of Medford resident Alecia Avery Juber. State officials say all four had been given morphine by Michael J. Coons, 45, a nurse who worked at the care center. In a telephone interview Wednesday night, Coons said the grand jury�s decision not to indict him shows he did nothing wrong. "I told the press in the beginning that I had not exceeded doctor�s orders nor had I exceeded my scope of practice," Coons said. "This verdict by the grand jury simply affirms that and reaffirms my belief in the legal system that an innocent man doesn�t need to fear." The grand jury had been meeting since July and called 25 witnesses before announcing its decision Tuesday, Yamhill County District Attorney Brad Berry said in a statement issued Wednesday. "Although the grand jury has completed its investigation into this facet of the case, further inquiry is contemplated concerning other allegations related to the care facility and other individuals," Berry�s statement said. Berry later told The Associated Press he could not say what other charges might be considered or which individuals are under investigation. "But as far as these four deaths are concerned, I feel confident that no other charges will be there," he said. He declined to comment on the decision itself, saying only that the jury had worked very hard on the case and reviewed hundreds of pages of documents, "probably approaching 1,000." Coons, of Dallas, no longer works at the center. Coons had claimed he was following doctors� orders in administering the morphine to the four patients. The care facility has challenged claims that the patients were given overdoses. A fifth patient, Louise Holder, 82, survived. Holder, Juber and another family of a patient who died have filed lawsuits alleging the center was negligent in supervising Coons and knew, or should have known, that he was on probation as a result of past abuses. Holder�s lawsuit said that care center officials also knew or should have known that Coons had been diagnosed as being bipolar, that he was on medication and that he was not stable or fit to be in control of patients in a care home. A state investigation reached the same conclusion last year and fined the center the maximum $6,000 allowable by law. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA