Medical Murders

The Killing Environment

In trying to understand the unique nature of medical murderers, one must consider the general working environment in which most of these murders occur. Hospitals, nursing homes, and other venues of health care are places of both healing and death. Indeed, the beginning of life, care in illness, and end of life are all daily occurrences in many medical facilities. Consequently, this environment treats death as normal, the ultimate outcome of cases in which medical care could not overcome illness or age. In this milieu, death is no surprise.

Along with this overarching condition, a number of problems arise in trying to detect and capture medical serial murderers. First, as mentioned, death is not unusual in hospitals, therefore suspicions are normally not aroused by it. Second, the health care professional does not fit the image of a violent, malevolent killer. Caregivers who are serial murderers normally perform their acts quietly in the course of their daily routines, in a relatively nonviolent manner. Furthermore, people commonly think of physicians as upper-middle-class elites who are highly educated and financially successful. Because societal stratification encourages elitist deference, the natural tendency for individuals is to not suspect doctors of illegal or harmful activity. In the case of nursing, which is still heavily dominated by women, the patriarchal nature of Western society views women as caring nurturers and is reticent to accept the idea of women as murderers.

Third, hospitals and nursing homes are rife with vulnerable victims who have little means of protecting themselves, especially if they are in severe states. Fourth, the instruments used in killing patients are readily available. Drugs such as succinylcholine, Pavulon, postassium chloride, and digoxin are plentiful and are difficult to detect, or are not tested for routinely. Syringes, intravenous apparatuses, and other medical paraphernalia are disposed of easily. Finally, health care institutions have been slow to [Page 307]investigate suspicious activity for fear of litigation or the effects that negative publicity may have on patient admissions.

Motivations for Killing

Discerning the motivation of any serial killer is difficult, and a number of theories and profiles of medical murderers have attempted to explain the behavior. In general, these motivational theories can be placed in one of two groups. The first group comprises behaviors that are linked directly to medical practitioners and their patient population. For instance, some medical killers have stated that the feeling of having the power of life or death, the “God complex,” is a crucial factor in their behavior. Others are motivated by becoming heros, saving those who are on the brink of death and thereby becoming recipients of praise and attention; unfortunately, many of these patients die from the induced illnesses. Still others are motivated by mercy killing, or euthanasia, stopping patients' suffering by ending their lives.

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