Medical Murder Higgins O’Brien Spring 2012

Medical murder includes nurses, doctors, aides, and other medical professionals who intentionally kill their patients for personal or emotional reasons Does not include deaths due to incompetence, malpractice, or error Also does not include “assisted suicide”, where the patient wishes to die Medical murderers can have very high victim counts, but do not receive the same notoriety as other serial killers

Counting Medical Murders Difficult to determine statistics, murders can go on for extended periods of time before detection Individuals die in healthcare settings all the time The emergence of high quality surveillance has had a large impact on detection Those receiving care may come in contact with many individuals at many locations, making it difficult to identify an offender Suspicious deaths are not labeled murder until long after the fact

Motives and Types of Medical Murders Like other serial killers, they target victims who are vulnerable Only 15% if all serial murderers are female, but 54% of medical murderers are female Females more likely to suffocate or poison victims, which is possible in a medical setting Motives can be power, control, attention, or financial gain

Motives and Types of Medical Murders continued Power Killer Prefers quiet, often works the nightshift Can kill for extended period of time Enjoy controlling life and death Hero Killer Nurse who craves attention Creates emergency so they can involve themselves Crave excitement and adoration from “saving” others Some killers claimed to just “hate old people” for filling up rooms in a hospital

Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy Munchausen Syndrome involves making oneself sick or faking various injuries to attract attention or sympathy from others Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSBP) involves faking injury in someone else, typically a child Increased awareness of this phenomenon has increased rates in recent years Children can be injured/poisoned through various means, and must then go through multiple medical tests to determine what is wrong

Administrative Facilitators Medical professionals have easy access to victims and means to murder them Hospitals and nursing homes are often hesitant to investigate its own Cover-ups are easy There is pressure for medical professionals to determine a legitimate cause of death, even if the circumstances are questionable Doctors fired for incompetence often just move to another State or Country and continue working

Prevention and Intervention Monitoring all health care services is difficult, but cases involving a fatality should be looked into The should be a more extensive look at work history when hiring new professionals Better regulation of hospital drugs More surveillance systems in place Cameras Staff workers