2 Tales of Death

 

Doctor Death

Harold Shipman was a British Doctor and Serial killer who murdered about 250 of his patients. Harold first took an interest in the field, watching his mother receive morphine injections to ease the pain from her lung cancer. In 1970, Shipman received a medical degree from Leeds University.

He later became a general practitioner, in Todmorden which is located in Lancashire. By 1975, it was discovered that Shipman had written several fraudulent prescriptions out for opiate petedine. Shipman had become addicted to the drug, and this forced him out of practice and into drug rehabilitation.

In 1977, Shipman was able to find work as a general practitioner in the town of Hyde in Greater Manchester. It was here that Shipman gained respectability and as a result, his practice thrived. It wasn't until 1998 when one of his patients was found dead. The 81-year-old woman was found only hours after Shipman had done a home visit. 

Her family was shocked by the death, as she was in good health. But, nothing prepared them for what came next. They discovered that her will had been changed, naming Shipman as a sole benefit. Her will gave Shipman her entire estate, valued at 400,000 pounds. To make matters even more suspicious Shipman insisted that no autopsy was necessary. 

By the year 2000, he was convicted of 15 counts of murder and one forgery. He was sentenced to life in prison, where he committed suicide by hanging himself. In 2005 it was discovered that Shipman had killed more than 250 patients, dating back to 1971. 

It is said that Shipman killed most of his patients by injection of a lethal dose of the painkiller, diamorphine. He then signed the death certificate saying they died of natural causes. Some say this was due to avenging his mother's death. Others claim however that he was practicing euthanasia. (The removal of older people who might burden the healthcare system. 

A third theory is much more sinister in nature and suggests that he had pleasure in knowing he held the power of life and death over his patients. Besides the forgery of the will, financial gain did not seem to be a motive in the killings.  

Most of Shipman's victims were found sitting up in a chair, fully clothed, and seemed to have died by natural causes. He even went as far as to push the idea of cremation to the families. This way, the bodies could never be exhumed and prove his guilt. 

It was in 1998, that Deborah Massey from Frank Massey and Son's funeral parlor had risen concerns regarding how many of Shipman's patients were dying. She passed her thoughts onto Linda Reynolds, of Donneybrook Surgery, which was also located in Hyde. Linda passed these thoughts onto John Pollard, who was the coroner for the South Manchester District. 

Linda stressed her concerns about how many cremation forms were countersigned by Shipman. The police were informed of these concerns but could do very little. There just wasn't enough evidence supporting these theories. Even a taxi driver by the name of John Shaw had contacted police in regards to Shipman. He told them that he believed Shipman had killed at least 21 patients. The police department was later criticized for this. 

Kathleen Grundy was the last victim of Shipman's. The 81-year-old was found in her home, on June 24th, 1998. Shipman was the last to see her alive, signed the death certificate old age, and forged her will to leave everything to him. 

Shipman had tried to explain this away, saying that Kathleen was an addict, and showed "proof" of this using her digital medical files. However, when police searched the computer they found these notes had been added after Kathleen's death. Shipman was arrested on September 7th, 1998. He had left a fingerprint on the forged will. 

The Angel of Death

 Following her preteen years, Kristen Strickland would become a habitual liar, and brag about how she was related to Lizzie Borden. She had a history of threatening suicide whenever she was angry and making violent threats towards others. By 1988, Kristen had earned herself a degree as a registered nurse from Greenfield Community College and would marry Glenn Gilbert. 

In March of 1989, Kristen would land herself a job at the Veterans Administrator Medical Center, located in Northampton, Massachusetts. Kristen had been described as being competent and committed to her job. She was the social butterfly of C-ward, who remembered birthdays and organized the Christmas gift exchange program. Her superiors rated her nursing skills as high and took note of how well she acted during medical emergencies. 

It all started in the 1990s after the couple had their first child. Kristen, coming off of maternity leave switched to the 4pm to midnight shift. That was when strange things began to happen. Patients had begun to die during her shift at an alarming rate. So alarming that the deaths tripled the medical center's death rates over the previous 3 years. During each incident of death, Kristen's competent nursing skills shined, winning the admiration of her co-workers. 

After the birth of her second child, the marriage started to unravel. Kristen developed a friendship with the medical center's security guard, James Perrault which quickly blossomed into an affair. She left both her husband and her children and moved into a little apartment of her own. She continued to work at the medical center. 

However, her co-workers were beginning to become suspicious about the deaths that always seemed to occur during her shifts. Many of the patients were old and in poor health. But all of them were dying of cardiac arrest, even though many of them had no history of heart problems. The strangest thing was that while these deaths were happening, supplies of ephedrine, a drug that can potentially cause heart failure were going missing. 

It wasn't until late 1996 and early 1997 that 4 patients under Kristen's care passed away. Each of them passing of heart failure, in all cases the use of ephedrine was suspected. Kristen was under suspicion, and an investigation opened. Shortly after this Kristen left her job, claiming injuries. 

In the summer of 1996, Kristen and James' relationship became strained. By September of that year, federal authorities were investigating the deaths. They had interviewed James, but that's when things took a more sinister turn. That's when the bomb threats started. 

On September 24th, James had taken a call at work, the call stated that 3 bombs had been planted at the medical center. The hospital was evacuated, the police were called in, but no bombs or explosives were found. Similar threats occurred the following day, and again on the 30th, each one during James' shift. 

By January of the following year, Kristen was tried and convicted for the bomb threats, receiving 15 months in prison. In May, Kristen was charged with the death of Stanley Jagodowski, and by November the deaths of Henry Hudon, Kenneth Cutting, and Edward Skwira. As well as the attempted murder's of 

Thomas Callahan and Angelo Vella. 

On March 14th, 2001 Kristen was found guilty of three cases of murder in the first degree, one case of second-degree murder, and was convicted of two accounts of attempted murder. Earning her four life sentences. 

There are state records that show Kristen fakes suicide attempts to manipulate people. She would also make violent threats towards them. The records show that Kristen first attended Bridgewater State college but was kicked out after a fake suicide attempt because the school felt that she needed psychiatric treatment. She transferred to  Mount Wachusett Community College, and then later to Greenfield Community College. 

Kristen was violent in nature, while working as a home health aide, she allegedly scalded a mentally handicapped child, on purpose while in her care. She was also poisoning her husband's food and later tried to kill him in a civilian hospital where he was being treated. 

She was hospitalized after quitting her job for yet another suicide attempt. While under the care of the hospital, she had confessed to James that she had killed all those people by injection. He immediately went to the police. 

 Stanley Jagodowski was admitted into the hospital for a postoperative bowel obstruction. He had only required medication by mouth. However, Kristen entered his room with a syringe, he died later that night. Stanley was only 66 years old at the time of his death. 

It is estimated that Kristen was on duty for half of her wards' 350 deaths.