Peter Smerick, a former FBI criminal profiler says there are 2 types of medical killers. (Kaplan, 2007). 1. The Hero Killer. This type of killer would put a patient under great risk. If they save the patient they are a hero. If the patient dies the killer will say "so what"? 2. The Mercy killer. This doctor rationalizes that they are concerned about the suffering of a patient and put them out of their misery. They count on the fact that an autopsy is not usually done on a terminally ill patient. Medicine attracts a certain kind of personality who is lured by the power of life and death. If I had to choose one of these representations I'd chose The Hero killer. I believe he developed a God complex and got a thrill out of determining when a person dies and when to end their suffering. Many of these murderers have a narcissistic personality. A doctor who cannot step back early from the casualties of treatment to seek assistance and stop what they are doing do not have the ability to admit when they are wrong and go to great lengths to get what they want. …show more content…
The Chief Medical officer, Dr.
Donaldson said in his foreword: the doctor with the sinister and macrebe motivation of Harold Shipman is a once in a lifetime occurrence. (Gunn, 2010). Dame Janet described him as being "addicted" to murder. There was no evidence to suggest that he was motivated by monetary gain.The final reason I believe Dr. Shipman was a Hero killer is because of the wording in the forgery of a patient's will that led to his capture. In the will it stated that all of her estate, money, and house should be left to him because " I want to reward him for all the care he has given to me and the people of Hyde." For me, he forged that as a show of recognition on his part and so that he would seem like a hero. Not only for his patients but for the community of
Hyde. References Gunn, J. (2010). Dr. Harold Frederick Shipman: An enigma. Criminal Behavior & Mental Health, 20(3), 190-198. doi:10.1002/cbm.768 References Kaplan, R. (2007). The clinicide phenomenon: an exploration of medical murder. Australasian Psychiatry, 15(4), 299-304. doi:10.1080/10398560701383236
The short story “The Sniper”, by Liam O’Flaherty and the poem “The Man He Killed,” by Thomas Hardy both use themes of guilt and regret to emphasize how war negatively affects the soldiers fighting it. In “The Man He Killed”, Hardy’s character, a war veteran, wonders what might have happened had he met the man he killed anywhere other than war. The soldier feels a strong sense of confusion and guilt because he realized the man he killed could have been his friend elsewhere. The veteran’s guilt resembles significant similarity to that of O’Flaherty’s character in “The Sniper”. The main character, a sniper in the Irish civil war, unknowingly kills his brother in a battle. The sniper felt remorse even before recognizing the body. The snipers’ sense
On the morning of April 20, 1999, Eric Davis Harris and Dylan Bennet Klebold went into the Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, and went on a rampage killing spree leaving 12 students and 1 teacher dead and over 20 people injured before killing themselves. This crime is known as one of the most deadliest school massacres in the United States history (Pittaro).
The sentencing of underage criminals has remained a logistical and moral issue in the world for a very long time. The issue is brought to our perspective in the documentary Making a Murderer and the audio podcast Serial. When trying to overcome this issue, we ask ourselves, “When should juveniles receive life sentences?” or “Should young inmates be housed with adults?” or “Was the Supreme Court right to make it illegal to sentence a minor to death?”. There are multiple answers to these questions, and it’s necessary to either take a moral or logical approach to the problem.
Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie is a gut-wrenching novel centered around the storyline of an unknown killer who has a strong and evident motive for kidnapping and killing people throughout the novel's progression. The people that the killer takes interest in consists of mostly white men. This deep burning fire within the killer has an extensive connection with the complexity of tension between whites and Indians, as radio host Truck Schultz states through multiple broadcasts. The novel also has another character that stands out, John Smith. Sherman's novel has two killers, John Smith and Marie Polatkin, who share very identical qualities such as an equal level of hatred towards the average white male and a strong sense of anger issues.
Due to very little being said by Dr. Shipman before his quick demise by suicide, or hanging himself in prison, no one really knows what caused him to become a serial killer, only speculation. After multiple counts of murder, Dr. Shipman was incarcerated before hanging himself while locked up (Saferstein, 2015). Based on the evidence, from forged wills to stolen jewelry from his deceased victims, greed had to be one of the motives. When Dr. Shipman was finally captured and imprisoned, he did not let anyone know why he committed any of the crimes, which is a secret that he carried to his grave. There are some that would argue that his domineering mother played a role in his murderous
One of the most persistent stereotypes of (dis)Abled individuals is that they are evil or villainous and as such are predisposed to criminality due to some type impairment. Nothing is farthest from the truth.. Although, people with intellectual disorders and mental health issues are a growing population within the criminal justice system, they are still more often than not victims of crime as a result of their circumstances. People with developmental and cognitive impairments or significant mental health issues in many cases lack impulse control or display inappropriate emotions that the criminal justice system may misinterpret, thus bringing criminal charges for such offenses as causing a disturbance or mischief. When the police are confronted with a situation that involves a cognitively impaired or mentally ill person the police do not know how to respond in an appropriate manner. This image is seen throughout the media over the past few years. One has to look at the tragic death of Sammy Yatim or Michael Eligon to see these image.
What drives a person past insanity? What drives an individual to feel no remorse, but rather a psychological relief in murderous acts? Consider all the different types of people on Earth as well as the lifestyles and situations these people are raised up in. As much as it’s desired to think the world is filled with people who carry no such thing as a bad bone in their bodies, that thought process is simple deception. The fact is that psychopaths and sociopaths hide among others in everyday environments - neighbors, teachers, family members, doctors, friends, or even the local mailman. Psychopaths are declared as people who suffer from a mental disorder causing aggression and abnormal behaviors such as their “lack of
According to the Oxford Dictionary; a serial killer is a person who commits a series of murders, often with no apparent motive and typically following a characteristic, predictable behavior pattern. They usually go through a cooling down period where there are no murders. Then start the killing spree back up again after the cooling down period. The killing spree usually doesn’t last more than a couple of years without the murderer being caught. And there is usually a victim type and killing style which leads to the killer being identified. This is the definition of a serial killer so why is it so commonly believed that this is a male dominated area. “However, if, as seems to be the case in many countries, the only
Born in England in 1946, British most notorious serial killer Harold Shipman became known as Dr. Death. His fascination for the world of medicine can be traced back to as early as taking care of his dying mother. Shipman became obsessed with the positive effect of how morphine was administered. This serial killer killed over 215 of his patients. Shipman lived by the motive, "if you want to become a serial killer, become a doctor." In 1974, Shipman joined the Abraham Ormerod Medical Practice in Todmorden. Until September 1975, when his partners discovered that he had been stealing controlled drugs for his personal usage. Shipman pleaded guilty in February of 1976 at the Halifax Magistrates’ Court of these allegations. There was no disciplinary
When people think of heroes and villains they think of the characters who play these roles in cartoon movies like Batman and Spiderman, but in reality, anyone can be a hero and anyone can be a villain. Heroes are considered to be inspirational and bold because of what they do to help others. While villains are typically defined as a wicked or evil person who makes others feel helpless.
Every culture has a taboo against murder, including our own. The practice of physician assisted suicide is wrong across all religious and cultural groups. According to Leon R. Kass, M.D., the taboo against doctors killing patients, even on request, "is the very embodiment of reason and wisdom. Without it, medicine will have lost its claim to be an ethical and trustworthy profession." Before a physician is allowed to practice medicine, he/she takes the Hippocratic Oath, which is described by Encyclopedia Britannica as " a pledge to prescribe only beneficial treatments, according to his abilities and judgment; to refrain from causing harm or hurt". This oath has been practiced for more than 2000 years. If a doctor breaks that promise and helps a patient to purposely die, then the oath has meant nothing.
Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac Killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Son of Sam, the BTK Killer. The names and assumed names of these cold-blooded serial killers are forever branded into the cognizance of people everywhere. This is mainly due to the mass media coverage, including newspapers, movies, television specials and books. This media coverage brought to light that these killers were, on the surface, normal, successful, attractive, productive members of society – that is, until the time that their heinous crimes came to be discovered.
Brenna Courtemanche Professor Crombie ENC 1102 4 April 2014 The Mind of Serial Killers There is no specific manual or "how to" book to depict what a serial killer would potentially act or look like. It would be comforting if real-life serial killers were like those in the movies. If they were obviously masked like Jason on Friday the 13th, we would be aware whenever they approached. If they were introverted loners like Psycho's Norman Bates, they could not trick us so easily into their deviant plan.
People believe physicians should be able to aid in this process because they have valuable knowledge on how the body works, “… knowledge that can be used to kill or to cure” (Callahan 74). This argument contradicts the moral meaning of medicine. Indeed, the word "medical" comes from the Latin word “mederi,” which means "to heal." Medicine is understood to heal, cure, or comfort people, not kill. As a matter of fact, in the International Medical Code of Ethics and the American Nurses Association’s Code of Ethics fully states that the act of euthanasia violates their role and shall not be performed. Just because of the mere fact that physicians have the knowledge and medical equipment to kill does not indicate a physician should be permitted to perform euthanasia. Dan Brock states, “… permitting physicians to perform euthanasia, it is said, would be incompatible with their fundamental moral and professional commitment as healers to care for patients and to protect life” (77). Dan Brock also raises the question, if euthanasia became a common practice that was performed by physicians, would we eventually fear or lose trust in our physicians?
Michael Sanders, a Professor at Harvard University, gave a lecture titled “Justice: What’s The Right Thing To Do? The Moral Side of Murder” to nearly a thousand student’s in attendance. The lecture touched on two contrasting philosophies of morality. The first philosophy of morality discussed in the lecture is called Consequentialism. This is the view that "the consequences of one 's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct.” (Consequentialism) This type of moral thinking became known as utilitarianism and was formulated by Jeremy Bentham who basically argues that the most moral thing to do is to bring the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of people possible.