Harold Shipman
Harold Shipman was born on January 14, 1946 in Nottingham, England. As a child and caring for his mother while she was going through terminal lung cancer, he wanted to become a doctor. Shipman attended Leeds School of Medicine in England and began working as a physician in 1970 (Biography, 2017). After graduating from Leeds School of Medicine, Shipman who had started a family began his career as a physician in Todmorden, Yorkshire. By 1975 he was forging prescriptions to himself for pain medicine in order to feed his addiction and was ultimately caught by his partners. Shipman agreed to enter rehab and paid a fine for forgery upon his conviction (Biography, 2017). A few years later, Shipman began practicing again at Donneybrook Medical Centre
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in Hyde. Shipman practiced medicine there for nearly twenty years where he thrived as a physician and was well liked by his patients and peers before being arrested for his heinous crimes (Biography, 2017). The local undertaker became suspicious of Shipman’s patients who were dying in the same manner and at an alarming rate (Biography, 2017). After confronting Shipman about the concern, the coroner along with one of his co-workers reported their suspicions to the police. An initial investigation into Shipman did not reveal that he was doing anything wrong or illegal, but eventually the police were able to determine that he was altering their records by adding illnesses and ensuring that they match in the medical center’s computer system. As a result of the halfhearted investigation, Shipman was able to kill three more of his patients before being arrested in February 1999. It was determined that Shipman’s first victim was Eva Lyons, who was killed the day before her 71st birthday in March of 1975, just a year after he started practicing (Batty, 2005).
Shipman was also caught forging the will of one of his victims, Kathleen Grundy. He changed the will to leave everything to him and also changed that she wanted to be cremated instead of being buried. Grundy’s daughter, Angela Woodruff was notified of the will and she immediately notified the police because she knew that the will was not changed and signed by her mother (Batty, 2005). Kathleen Grundy’s body was exhumed and was determined that she was giving a lethal dose of morphine. Subsequently, nearly a dozen of his deceased patient’s bodies were exhumed and all of them had lethal doses of morphine in their body tissue (Batty, 2005). It was also determined that Shipman was putting wrong information as the manner of death on his patient’s death certificates. There is not an exact number of how many patients that Shipman actually murdered, but he was only convicted of fifteen murders in January, 2000 in which he was given fifteen life sentences. It is estimated that he killed at least 250 of his patients over 23 years of practice, all in the same manner (Batty, 2005). Harold Shipman dubbed Dr. Death hanged himself in his prison cell on January 13, 2004 at the age of
57.
in Hyde. Shipman practiced medicine there for nearly twenty years where he thrived as a physician and was well liked by his patients and peers before being arrested for his heinous crimes (Biography, 2017). The local undertaker became suspicious of Shipman’s patients who were dying in the same manner and at an alarming rate (Biography, 2017). After confronting Shipman about the concern, the coroner along with one of his co-workers reported their suspicions to the police. An initial investigation into Shipman did not reveal that he was doing anything wrong or illegal, but eventually the police were able to determine that he was altering their records by adding illnesses and ensuring that they match in the medical center’s computer system. As a result of the halfhearted investigation, Shipman was able to kill three more of his patients before being arrested in February 1999. It was determined that Shipman’s first victim was Eva Lyons, who was killed the day before her 71st birthday in March of 1975, just a year after he started practicing (Batty, 2005).
Shipman was also caught forging the will of one of his victims, Kathleen Grundy. He changed the will to leave everything to him and also changed that she wanted to be cremated instead of being buried. Grundy’s daughter, Angela Woodruff was notified of the will and she immediately notified the police because she knew that the will was not changed and signed by her mother (Batty, 2005). Kathleen Grundy’s body was exhumed and was determined that she was giving a lethal dose of morphine. Subsequently, nearly a dozen of his deceased patient’s bodies were exhumed and all of them had lethal doses of morphine in their body tissue (Batty, 2005). It was also determined that Shipman was putting wrong information as the manner of death on his patient’s death certificates. There is not an exact number of how many patients that Shipman actually murdered, but he was only convicted of fifteen murders in January, 2000 in which he was given fifteen life sentences. It is estimated that he killed at least 250 of his patients over 23 years of practice, all in the same manner (Batty, 2005). Harold Shipman dubbed Dr. Death hanged himself in his prison cell on January 13, 2004 at the age of
57.