When Doctors Kill: Who, Why, and How / Edition 1

by Joshua A. Perper, Stephen J. Cina

Overview

Some readers may be shocked by the title of this book, and some may wonder if it is necessary to raise the uncomfortable issue of killing by doctors. Killing is clearly antithetical to the Art and Science of Medicine, which is geared toward easing pain and saving lives rather than smothering them. Nevertheless, doctors are people too. Physicians have the same genetic library of enabling qualities and defects as the rest of us, but their vocation places them in a position where both good practice and bad practice can be exercised. The book begins by presenting the background against which medicine came into being and the forces that molded the social, psychological and professional profile of healers. It continues with profiles of infamous serial killer physicians throughout the world; some "practiced" over a hundred years ago, others in recent decades. There is a discussion of mass murdering physicians who chose dictatorship or terrorism over healing. Not-so-mad, but highly sadistic physician/ scientists will also be under their microscope. There is a discussion of high-profile cases, and the authors raise the specter of the first genetic homicide - murder by means of chromosomal manipulation. They also the authors also share their thoughts on some of the ethical issues facing physicians today and examine the gray areas between Medicine and Law. The book concludes with a look at current fashions and trends in medicine. Complementary medicine and alternative therapies may have brought relief to many patients, but they have also resulted in disability, suffering, and death. Through the review of a few high profile, drug-related fatalities, the celebrity-physician relationship will be explored. Finally, the authors examine how the doctor is portrayed in fiction and why medical professionals are featured so prominently on television. Dr. Perper and Dr. Cina have a combined medical experience spanning 60 years. As forensic pathologists

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441913685
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	06/30/2010
Edition description:	2010
Pages:	253
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

Section 1 Ethics and the Physician

1 In the Beginning 3

2 Perfect Intentions, Imperfect People 9

Section 2 When Doctors Kill

3 The Alpha Killers: Three Prolific Murderous Doctors 15

Saucy Jack (MD?) 16

Dr. Thomas Neill Cream: The Misogynistic Serial Killer 21

Dr. Harold Frederick Shipman: The Champion Serial Killer 25

4 America's Contribution to Medical Mayhem 31

Dr. Holmes's House of Terror 31

The Starvation "Doctor" 33

The Fugitive 36

Dr. Poison 41

5 International Men of Mystery: Other Medical Murderers 43

East Versus West 43

Witch Doctors 46

6 To Catch a Killer: Investigating Serial Murders 49

Nature or Nurture? 53

How do You Catch Them? 54

7 The Nazi Murders 57

Why Did They Do It? 60

Duty 61

Preservation of the Race 62

Anti-Semitism 64

Could This Nightmare Happen Again? 65

Section 3 In the Name of Science

8 Hitler's "Scientists" 69

The Nazi Experiments 70

Freezing Experiments 71

Genetic Experiments 72

High-Altitude Experiments 73

Antibiotic Experiments 73

Experimental Poisoning 73

Phosgene Experiments 74

Bone, Muscle and Joint Transplantation 74

Sterilization Techniques 74

Artificial Insemination Experiments 75

Seawater Experimentation 75

Incendiary Bomb Experiments 75

Human Petri Dishes 75

Polygal Experiments 76

German Academicians 76

Are the Results of Nazi Criminal Experimentation Reliable? 77

Modern Day Human Experimentation 78

9 Made in Japan: Unethical Experiments 79

The Japanese WMD Program 79

Basic Japanese Medical Experiments 83

Human Target Practice and Other Atrocities 84

Why Did They Do It? 85

10 Good Old Fashioned American Ingenuity-and Evil 87

Experiments in the Old South 88

Experiments on Filipino Prisoners 89

Experiments on the Disadvantaged 89

Paying a Debt to Society 91

Taking Advantage of the Weak and Innocent 93

It Takes a Village 94

Willing to Die for Your Country? 95

A Piece of Your Mind 96

Doing Your Civic Duty 98

Why Did American Doctors Perform Unethical Medical Experimentation? 99

Experimentation and the Law 100

11 Physician Kill Thyself: The Story of Dr. Gwinn E. Puig 103

Self-Experimenting Physicians 103

Boldly Going Where No Man Has Gone Before 104

What Were They Thinking? 107

Physicians and Suicide 109

Section 4 Politics and Medicine

12 Libel Plots Against Physicians (Who Killed Dr. Zhivago?) 115

Plots and Purges 115

Stalin and the Doctors 116

13 Judge, Jury, Executioner, and Doctor 121

Dr. Ernesto "Che" Guevara: A Physician in Search of a Revolution 122

Psychiatrists and Genocide 124

"Papa Doc" 128

"The Great Lion" 131

14 Trading Treatment for Terror 135

Physicians on the Front Lines 136

The Fort Hood Massacre 139

Doctors as Terrorist Leaders 145

15 Guilty Until Proven Innocent 149

Katrina and Dr. Pou 149

The Benghazi Six 153

Section 5 What Now?

16 Euthanasia, and Assisted Suicide: What Would Hippocrates Do? 159

A Short History of Suicide 159

The Physician and Suicide 160

Physician-Assisted Suicide 162

Legal Assisted-Suicide 164

"Excursional" Suicide 164

Euthanasia 165

Karen and Terri 167

Karen Ann Quinlan 168

Terri Schiavo 169

What Is Right? 172

17 Malpractice or Murder? 173

The Current Problem 174

Medical Errors by Individual Physicians 174

Murder Versus Malpractice 176

18 It's All Natural! 179

Alternative and Complementary Medicine 179

Alternative Medicine Gone Bad 182

Attachment Therapy 184

19 Contagious Caregivers 187

The Sad Story of Kimberly Bergalis 188

Blood Money 190

Honesty is the Best Medical Policy 190

The Last Word 191

20 Fictitious Physicians: Where Has Marcus Welby Gone? 193

Off the Pedestal 194

The Characters 194

"Dr." Victor Frankenstein 194

Dr. Hannibal "the Cannibal" Lecter 195

Dr. Henry Jekyll 196

Dr. Christian Szell 196

Dr. Josef Mengele 197

Dr. Evil (a.k.a. Dougie Powers) 197

Dr. Richard Kimble 198

Dr. Remy Hadley (a.k.a. "Thirteen") 198

Dr. Alice Krippen 199

Is Reality Really Stranger Than Fiction? 199

21 Doctors to the Stars 201

Dr. Feelgood 201

Celebrities and Abuse of Prescription Drugs 202

Somewhere Under the Rainbow 205

Long Live the King - Or Not 209

Anna Nicole Smith 214

Moonwalk 218

Shooting Stars 226

Can It Be Stopped? 227

Suggested Reading 229

Index 243

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:
“This is a slim volume that still packs a lot of punch. … it covers doctor-caused deaths in a wide variety of contexts, including deliberate murder, malpractice, assisted suicide and euthanasia, medical experimentation, even doctors who became dictators … . this book would appeal to people with a range of interests. It covers historical events as well as some very recent ones, such as the Fort Hood shooting and Anna Nicole Smith’s death.” (Goodreads, August, 2010)
“It covers the bases from historical killers (Jack the Ripper— doctor or not?) to Sam Sheppard … . the book ultimately sacrifices depth for scope … depending on what you’re looking for. … Overall, the book is fact-filled; full to the brim with facts, in fact. You’ll feel positively overwhelmed after reading it … . The book is well-indexed, so tracking down a particular bit of information is pretty easy to do. It’s well-organized as well.” (Goodreads, August, 2010)
“‘When Doctors Kill’ by Joshua A. Perper, MD and Stephen J. Cina, MD - Medical ethics defines the organizational strategy to the chapter discussions. … I thoroughly enjoyed the book … . as a reference work this book would make for excellent adjunct study in a course on medical ethics.” (LibraryThing, August, 2010)
“Do you want a detailed view of the twisted doctors through history who killed innocent men, women, and children? Do you crave a depressing litany of torture and death inflicted upon the blameless over the centuries? Then this is the book for you. … This is a thorough and well written review of fictional doctors who turn into killers.” (David E. Hoekenga, The Internet Review of Books, December, 2010)

From the Publisher