MEDICAL SERIAL KILLERS

For many people, the realization of the existence of medical serial killers is particularly frightening since they are under the Hippocratic Oath to heal their patients, not participate in their death. In spite of the medical community's assertion that medical serial killers are extremely rare (Kinnell, 2000, p. 1594), this profession has produced more serial killers than all other professions combined (Whittle & Ritchie, 2000; Hickey, 1997). Contrary to the typical motives of doctors who enter the profession to heal and assist patients, these doctors are attracted to the profession because they are motivated by the power, control and potential benefits such as financial gain. Furthermore, hospitals with the available supply of drugs and elderly and sickly patients provide them with an ideal environment for committing crimes that can be easily concealed (Ramsland, 2001, "Motives: Part 1," p. 1).

Thus, it is little wonder that history is replete with documented instances of multiple murders by doctors, which confirms that individuals with a pathological desire to wield the power of life and death are drawn to the medical profession (Kinnell, 2000, p. 1594). Be

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01, "Motives: Part 2," p. 1). Internal conflicts: In his psychological assessment of Dr. Harold Shipman who was convicted of 15 murders in 2001, Dr. Chris Missen, head of forensic psychology at Anglia Polytechnic University, stated that Shipman had a doubled self that was characterized by extreme self-pity. His doubled self's re-enactment of the death scene of his mother with each of his killings alleviated the original feelings of abandonment experienced by his original self who saw his mother die at the age of 17. What would have been suicidal tendencies in most people were converted into a rage that could only be managed by his killings ("Ramsland, 2001, "Motives: Part 2," pp. 2-3). Desire for power and self-aggrandizement: According to Holmes and Holmes (1996), serial killers often kill after experiencing a period of intolerable depressive feelings. Their self-esteem and reason for existence are dependent on their feelings of superiority and perfection above all human beings. Only by enacting their fantasies will they be able to lift themselves up from the psychological low to prove their uniqueness and superiority. Instead of regarding their victims as human beings, medical serial killers perceive their victims
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Approximate Pages = 22 (250 words per page)

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