Guest Speaker: Dr Neil Snowise – Medical Murderers
Our president, Prof Paul Blenkiron, introduced the speaker using his trademark humour that was well matched and countered by Dr Snowise during his stimulating and memorable talk.
Dr Snowise started by dividing medical murderers into serial killers and single killers, the latter group being mainly males who murdered their wives, with the addition of their mother-in-law when required. He did not confine his talk to the medical profession noting that out of a series of 153 convicted multiple killers, 60% were nurses and 13% doctors. I.v. drugs were the most popular method with insulin being the most common and least easy to trace.
With serial killers, motives were complex and included the gaining of attention, ‘payback’ and ‘mercy’ killers. He reminded the older group in the audience of the case of nurse Beverley Allitt, now in a secure hospital after 30 years in custody, and awaiting a further mental health tribunal. Victorio Chua put insulin into saline bags, leaving it up to fate to decide who would die. Harold Shipman became ‘addicted’ to killing.
Single killers had simpler motives, the audience correctly guessing money and passion. Dr Snowise did note that many years ago it was possible to sell your wife at Smithfield market, previously adjacent to Barts, as an alternative to murder. Plant based poisons were popular in the 18th C; aconitine, strychnine and arsenic being popular. There were a number of popular trials resulting in the hanging of the perpetrator. One of the most famous murderers of the 20th C was Dr Crippen who used hyoscine and was caught leaving the country on a transatlantic passage, an early use of radiotelegraphy. This century methods remain the same although Prof Kim Sun filled yoga balls with CO, and sadly killed his daughter as well as his wife.
Finally, Dr Snowise discussed judicial aspects including conviction using circumstantial evidence as in the case of Dr Crickitt, who made a computer search as to how much insulin it would take to kill. This naturally led on to discussion of the current case of Lucy Letby, about which the speaker failed to be drawn. He finished with the case of Dr Bodkin Adams, no relation to the giver of the vote of thanks, who got off on technicalities.
Question time was lively and by the end the audience were well, perhaps too well, educated.
The Vote of Thanks was proposed by Dr Bob Adams who thanked the speaker for a fascinating prestation on a topic which, judging by the packed house, popular to many.
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.