Dr. Joseph Michael Swango is considered America’s most prolific serial killer, a
licensed physician believed to have killed at least 60 men and women. He was an
extremely bright man who violated the Hippocratic Oath by poisoning girlfriends, co-
workers and patients he was entrusted to care for. The organizational failures of various
medical institutions, most notably the Ohio State University Medical Center, created an
institutionalized environment where Administrators “closed ranks in misplaced
professional solidarity” (Stewart, 2000). The facilities feared publicity, lawsuits from
patients their families and also from Swango. There was a lack of oversight, loose
employment hiring protocols and undermining cultural practices
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However, their worries turned to fear when some nurses realized patients who otherwise seemed to be improving or deemed “healthy”, began dying or becoming unresponsive; all while under the recent care of Dr. Swango. According to Stewart’s book “Blind Eye: The terrifying story of a doctor who got away with murder”, the first incidents to catch hospital staff’s attention were the unexplainable deaths of two young patients both recovering from surgery. Then there was the death of patient Ruth Barrick, an elderly lady who was had two life-threatening events after visits by Dr. Swango’s. Both events were witnessed by nurses Anna Ritchie and Deborah Kennedy. In both instances Mrs. Barrick suffered a respiratory event within minutes of Dr. Swango leaving her side. The latter event proved fatal and after discussing the events, both Ritchie and Kennedy realized Dr. Swango was likely responsible for her death. He was witnessed injecting fluids into Mrs. Barrick’s intravenous line (IV) by Nurse Ritchie who was further appalled when Dr. Swango
insisted on notifying Barrick’s family of death. The event was so disturbing that
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Despite efforts, patient Dies
7-Feb Rena Cooper 69 Found "paralyzed", OSU staff was able to stabilize Patient
While Nurse Dickinson prepared for the meeting, Nurse Moore met with Dr. Goodman and notified him of the found syringe. Much to her dismay he seemed uninterested, didn’t ask additional questions and never asked for the syringe. Dickinson at time, realized the administrators may rally against Swango, a fellow doctor, as they had in past incidents relating to other doctors (Stewart, 2000). According to Stewart (2000), Dr.
Goodman was more concerned and annoyed with the nurse “gossip” and didn’t find it unusual that a syringe was found in a bathroom. He questioned Dr. Swango who denied all accusations and his cool and calm demeanor further cemented Dr. Goodman’s
“gossip” theory. The formal meeting was conducted the following day with most of the above mentioned in attendance along with Dickinson who was representing the nurses. Nurse Dickinson described all cases and Dr. Swango’s suspected involvement.
She explained how and where the syringe were found and the eye witness
The issue with this is that Mr. Swensen was not diabetic. How can a non-diabetic have an insulin shock? The only answer would be that he was administered insulin voluntarily and thus murdered by an individual with good medical knowledge, and access to medical facilities. Another medical mystery is related to Mr. Calley’s infection a few days after his penile prosthesis placement surgery that was also done by Dr. Mathis. Although infections are a common risk after surgeries, Moe was very meticulous in performing the surgery and made sure no such compromising mistakes were made. Upon inspection, he identified the infection cause to be due to a streptococcus bacterial species that contaminated one of the scalpels. This bacteria is commonly found in the human mouth and; therefore, a logical and likely cause would be someone spitting on the operating material. Who would do such a thing? And for what reasons? In addition, Dr. Ray Mosdell a close friend of Dr. Mathis who had Coronary Heart Disease and Serious Heart problems fell into a coma for unknown reasons. He then died shortly after of heart failure. There is a medical mystery surrounding what caused Dr. Mosdell’s coma, heart
Even in the medical field, male doctors were dominate to the hundreds of well educated midwives. “Male physicians are easily identified in town records and even in Martha’s diary, by the title “Doctor.” No local woman can be discovered that way” (Ulrich, 1990, pg.61). Martha was a part of this demoralized group of laborers. Unfortunately for her, “in twentieth-century terms, the ability to prescribe and dispense medicine made Martha a physician, while practical knowledge of gargles, bandages, poultices and clisters, as well as willingness to give extended care, defined her as a nurse” (Ulrich, 1990, pg.58). In her diary she even portrays doctors, not midwives, as inconsequential in a few medical
The Gentleman killer (John Wesley Hardin) was born a killer in Bonham, Texas on May 26, 1853. He had 11 other siblings including Joseph Gibson Hardin; Elizabeth Cobb; Martha Ann Smith;Mattie Ann Smith; Benjamin Hardin, III Brother of Joseph Gibson Hardin; Hardin was the eighth child out of eleven. Hardin's father was a Methodist preacher. Hardin’s father moved the family as much as a nomad during Hardin's childhood. They settled in Moscow, Polk County, in 1855, then moved in 1859 to Sumpter, Trinity County, where J. G. Hardin taught school. In 1861, J. G. Hardin moved the family to Livingston, Polk County, Texas where he taught school and practiced law.After the war, in 1865, the family returned to Sumter. In 1868, the 15 year old John Wesley Hardin killed his first victim, a former slave. He escaped his
Dr. Atul Gawande, a Harvard Medical School graduate and writer for The New Yorker, phenomenally illustrates the unknown side of healthcare professions in his book, Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science. By exploring the ethical and analytical aspects of medicine while entertaining readers with relatable anecdotes, Gawande impresses on his audience the importance of recognizing the wonders of the healthcare field, as well as the fallibility of those within it.
Vollmann’s story concentrates on the private experiences of individuals in a hospital. The commonality of the setting allows the reader to make necessary assumptions about the locale, timing and purpose of these hospital visits, also permitting the author flexibility in selecting events to comprise the plot. The universality of the hospital experience (lingering in the waiting room, a doctor’s examination, and a nurse’s questioning, for example) encourages the reader to relate to these private events in a shared, public manner. In this way, Vollmann relies upon one’s knowledge of hospital procedure to make greater comments about other institutions and society in general.
In the book, The Serial Killer Whisperer: How One Man’s Tragedy Helped Unlock the Deadliest Secrets of the World’s Most Terrifying Killers, Tony Ciaglia writes letters to various serial killers and starts a friendship with them. The friendships Tony’s build’s with these serial killer’s through phone calls and letters helped law enforcement in more than one way. The serial killers trust Tony and opens up to him about things they’ve done and why. The Serial Killer Whisperer gives readers an inside look of serial killers minds. Although the letters in this novel are between Tony and various serial killers, Pete Earley is the author. He interviewed Tony and his friends and families. Pete Earley is also the author of three New York Times bestsellers and he has won the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime. Ealey wrote this gripping tale in a way that would captivate any audience.
Erick Larson wrote in Devil in the White City, “I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing – I was born with the Evil One standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered in the world, and he has been with me since” (Troy, Taylor). This statement was a quoted confession from Dr. H. H. Holmes himself in 1896. Holmes was the first major serial killer in America, even though he came after many others in his time. Thomas Neil Cream, the Austin Axe Murderer, the Bloody Benders, and Jack the Ripper came before him. His name was originally Herman Webster Mudgett. He was born on May 16th, 1860 in Gilman, New Hampshire. He was raised by his mother and father, who was a wealthy and respected citizen for 25 years. As a boy, Mudgett was always in trouble and was well known in his community for his rather sociopathic behavior. He would show cruelty to both animals and other children. The only thing keeping hope to society was the fact that he was an excellent student. He later changed his last name to Holmes in order to pursue both his medical and criminal careers. He had many other aliases in which he would hide under and try to derail the cops from finding him (Juan, Blanco). Holmes was medically trained to be a doctor and received his degree from the University of Michigan. He was not just into insurance fraud scams. His evil doings included forgery, claiming to find the cure for alcoholism, real estate scams, and pretending to have a machine that turned natural gas into water. He was quite the ladies man, had many wives, whom often had become his victims. Many of his medical partners became subject to him, also. He once even had three wiv...
Dr. Gawande emphasizes the value of making mistakes, and how it is a core component of his daily life as a physician. His mistakes are dependent on the “good choices or bad choices” he makes, and regardless of the result that occurs, he learns more about himself as a physician, and more about his connection with patients (215). Critic Joan Smith of The Guardian newspaper mentions that although his various stories about “terrifying” mistakes that doctors make induce fear and a sense of squeamishness within the reader, it is the “emphasis that human beings are not machines” that is “oddly reassuring” (Smith). For example, in the essay, “When Doctors Make Mistakes”, Gawande is standing over his patient Louise Williams, viewing her “lips blue, her throat swollen, bloody, and suddenly closed” (73).
Swango applied at another ambulance company and was surprisingly hired. He was given the title Emergency Medical Technician. While working for the new Ambulance company, Michael started to display some very weird behavior. He would often talk about his various scrap books that he had created over the past years, that had numerous bloody and gory accidents. This raised questions and concern from his fellow employees. Michael’s first known act of poisoning was when he brought in a box of donuts for his co-workers and everyone who ingested one became very sick. Having a good suspicion, Police searched his house and found hundreds and different poisons and poison paraphernalia. Just a year after receiving his medical license, Michael Swango was arrested of Battery for poisoning co-workers. He was sentenced to only five years in prison and lost his medical
Doctor William Chester Minor, a protagonist in The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester, was an unquestionable psychopath. His insanity has been confirmed by his deranged delusions and actions such as him murdering an innocent man and mutilating himself. Yet he still succeeded at being a highly praised surgeon and an intelligent scholar. These three facets of Minor’s life are strongly motivated by his personality. Minor’s story begins on the island of Ceylon, where he received an exceptional primary education, learned several indigenous languages, and became infatuated with the enticing local girls. For this reason, he was steered away from temptation and sent to America, by his parents. In the United States, Minor studied medicine at the prestigious Yale University and eventually joined the Union Army as a surgeon. Dr. Minor witnessed, while fighting in the Civil War, terrible events; the most traumatic occurrence being when he was forced to brand an Irish deserter. This experience sent Minor on a downward spiral. He began to illegally carry a gun, visit brothels, and show signs of paranoia; therefore, the doctor was discharged from the army and discreetly sent to an asylum. After his release, Minor traveled to London where he shot a man dead due to his paranoid delusions. Minor was sentenced an insane asylum and he spent the majority of the next thirty-eight years reading and secretly volunteering for the Oxford English Dictionary. James Murray, editor of the dictionary, eventually discovered Minor’s identity and they soon became close friends. Although Minor religiously read and acquired new knowledge, his mental condi...
A serial killer is defined in Webster's Dictionary as someone who murders more than three victims one at a time in a relatively short period of time. There is no one generic profile to identify a serial killer. They usually are people seeking for a sensation, a lack of guilt or remorse, a need for control, impulsivity, and predatory behavior. These traits make up a psychopathic personality disorder. Psychopathy is a disorder manifested in people who use a mixture of charm, manipulation, manipulation, and occasional violence to control others, in order to satisfy their own wants and needs. There are four main types of serial killers; thrill seekers, mission-oriented, visionary serial killers, and power and control killers. There may be other
Most of the time people cannot comprehend why people that work in the forensic department are sometimes overwrought with anxiety when they have a serial killer case brought into their lab. These forensic scientists have these feelings due to knowing that this could potentially help advance technology. Over the years, serial killers have unpremeditatedly helped further advance the criminal investigation process by unintentionally leaving things behind for a forensics team to analyze. When the team finally solves these cases, it continually propels things such as DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) analysis, finger print techniques, and not to mention the investigation process itself.
When it come to the wrongdoing of serial murders the first thing people think of is that the offender is psychotic, white, abused as a child and experimented with animals. However that is not true, serial killers have different alternatives, motives and desires. Some are sexual sadist, act in necrophilia and are mission base serial killers. However people do not know that African-Americans consist of the largest racial minority group among serial killers, representing approximately 20 percent of the total amount of serial killers in America. (Bonn) Most believe that serial killers are white and other races are not likely to partake in that type of crimes. However two notorious well known black serial killers are Lemuel Smith & John Floyd
As if molded directly from the depths of nightmares, both fascinating and terrifying. Serial killers hide behind bland and normal existences. They are often able to escape being caught for years, decades and sometimes an eternity. These are America’s Serial Killers (America’s Serial Killers). “Even when some of them do get caught, we may not recognize what they are because they don’t [sic] match the distorted image we have of serial killers” (Brown). What is that distorted image? That killers live among everyday life, they are the ones who creep into someone’s life unknowingly to torture and kill them. The serial killers that are in the movies, Norman Bates, Michael Myers, and the evil master mind of SAW, these characters are just that characters. They have been made up as exaggerated fictional characters from the Hollywood imagination.
As the story begins, the unnamed doctor is introduced as one who appears to be strictly professional. “Aas often, in such cases, they weren’t telling me more than they had to, it was up to me to tell them; that’s why they were spending three dollars on me.” (par. 3) The doctor leaves the first impression that he is one that keeps his attention about the job and nothing out of the ordinary besides stating his impressions on the mother, father and the patient, Mathilda. Though he does manage to note that Mathilda has a fever. The doctor takes what he considers a “trial shot” and “point of departure” by inquiring what he suspects is a sore throat (par. 6). This point in the story, nothing remains out of the ordinary or questionable about the doctor’s methods, until the story further develops.