Medical Murderers - Methods and Motives 

Dr Neil Snowise FFPM – Pharmaceutical Physician and Visiting Senior Lecturer, Kings College, London

Doctors and nurses are in a unique position of trust (primum non nocere – ‘first, do no harm’). But with that trust comes knowledge and power over life and death. In this fascinating talk, Dr Snowise reveals how some of our most respected health professionals were able – literally – to get away with murder. From graveyards to poisons, court cases and the GMC, we explore the chilling paradox of those who spend years learning to preserve life but then turn their minds on ending it. Spanning three centuries to the present day, we look at nurses who have been serial killers, questioning their methods and motives. We then focus on doctors, especially physicians who murdered their spouses – why they did it, how they did it and how their methods have changed over the years. The conclusion examines why doctors think they will evade detection and asks whether justice is always done.