Healthcare serial murder

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We characterise “healthcare serial murder” cases as follows:

1. Situation: An unusual increase in deaths or medical incidents at a controlled hospital or care facility exceeding statistical averages for that facility and for which there is no obvious “innocent” explanation.
2. Suspect: A given carer or medical professional was present for all the incidents.
3. No direct evidence: There is no reliable direct evidence of the identified carer actually harming any of the patients.
4. “Small arrows”: There are many pieces of weak circumstantial evidence pointing to (or at least consistent with) the carer’s involvement, but which, when taken individually, do not strongly implicate the carer.
5. No motive: The suspect has no apparent motive.
6. No criminal propensity: The suspect has no record of violence, antisocial behaviour or mental illness other than the alleged offending.

The classic case

The case par excellence is Harold Shipman, a British doctor, who systematically murdered hundreds of elderly patients by administering lethal doses of medication, exploiting the trust placed in him as their doctor. However he wasn’t quite the classic case, as he appears to have some kind of financial motive, and the circumstantial evidence pointing to him was both overwhelming and quite strongly implicating.

Some examples of apparent healthcare serial murderers

Other famous cases are a little less edifying for the legal profession: