In January 2000, news headlines declared that Dr. Harold Shipman had been found guilty of murdering 15 of his patients. Before the trial, many assumed Shipman was an over-zealous doctor who went too far in providing comfort to dying patients. This was not the case. Shipman had deliberately and coldly murdered not 15, but 218 of his patients, though the real number may be even higher still. Medical Murder is a fascinating volume that explores some of the most famous cases of doctors who kill—such as Dr. Harry Bailey, a psychiatrist who dispatched more than 20 patients using the discredited Deep Sleep Therapy; Dr. Radovan Karadizic, the psychiatrist who led the genocide during the Bosnian War; and, Dr. William Palmer, who poisoned his victims for insurance money. It offers an intelligent look at the chilling paradox of why these healers spent years learning how to preserve life, only to turn their focus on how to end it.
Medical Murder, Robert M. Kaplan
I've been meaning to read this book for a while now - the subject being doctor's who kill. It's a smallish book that summarises a number of medical murders - including the best known from recent times - Dr Harold Shipman in the UK. But it doesn't just concentrate on Shipman. The book also looks at the cases such as the Australian experience with Deep Sleep Therapy at Chelmsford; Dr William Palmer who poisoned people for the insurance money; Dr Marcel Petiot in 1944 Occupied Paris; Dr Radovan Karadizic the psychiatrist who led the genocide in the Bosnian war and a number of other interesting, and different examples.
The sobering thing about many of the cases looked at in this book is how "untouchable" a doctor can often be - the lack of scrutiny, even an unwillingness to believe that a doctor could possibly be totally out of control was extremely disturbing.
But this isn't a disturbing book as the writer gives analysis and possible reasons for all of the extreme behaviours. The book also highlights a lot of the reasons why the doctors were able to get away with their behaviour, and in many cases, what led to their downfall.
Undoutedly uncomfortable subject matter - but interesting nonetheless.