Crime Library: Criminal Minds and Methods

Why do doctors kill? New chapter on Linda Hazzard who became rich off the deaths of her patients.

Nurses continue to murder their patients. Dr. Katherine Ramsland examines the motives and some high-profile and recent cases.

Evidence of nurses who murder their patients has reached epidemic proportions globally. Dr. Ramsland examines the motives and major cases. Review of new book on Donald Harvey.

Trial of Dr. Wouter Basson focuses on alleged attempts to use chemical and biological weapons on African rebels.

Attentive pediatric nurse, suffering from bizarre Munchausen by Proxy syndrome, maims and murders many babies before the hospital understands the problem.

When his marriage went downhill, this male nurse began to relieve the tensions from domestic failure, depression, alcoholism and chronic debt by injecting patients with medicines that were deadly. He was dismissed by several hospitals who suspected that he was killing patients, but employment laws in PA and NJ made hospitals liable if they gave negative comments about former employees. He confessed to murdering 35 patients, but the number may be closer to 40.

Former surgical nurse with a need for money and an obsession for extravagant shopping sprees kills several women and uses their assets to get her hair done and buy hundreds of dollars of goods.

The freight train rumbled to an agonizing stop on the rails inside of the Auschwitz compound. The human cargo that was packed tightly into its bevy of cattle cars continued to groan and clamor, suffering as they were from a four-day journey without food, water, bathroom facilities, or even fresh air.

When the journey ended, the Jewish prisoners were led before an SS officer. His handsome face was set with a kind smile, his uniform impeccably tailored, cleaned and pressed. He was cheerfully whistling an opera tune, one of his favorites by Wagner. He carried a riding crop to indicate which direction he selected them to go in left or right. Unbeknownst to the prisoners, this charming and handsome officer with the innocuous demeanor was engaging in his favorite activity at Auschwitz, selecting which new arrivals were fit to work and which ones should be sent immediately to the gas chambers and crematorium.

Mengele occupied his time with numerous acts of extraordinary cruelty, including the dissection of live infants; the castration of boys and men without the use of an anesthetic; and the administering of high-voltage electric shocks to women inmates under the auspices of testing their endurance. He is most famous for his monstrous experiments on sets of twins, resulting in their death and mutilation. Mengele's imagination knew no bounds when it came to devising physical torments for his victims.

The pleasant British family doctor who is believe to have murdered up to 260 of his patients, making him perhaps the most prolific serial killer in history. Shipman mocked his victims and used derogatory codes for them, such as WOW - Whining Old Woman---and FTPBI - Failed To Put Brain In. He also viewed himself as the "star" of his trial.

Australia's so-called Dr. of Death, he left a trail of death and disability from alleged incompetence and fraud. He may face extradition from U.S. to face charges in Queensland.

Physician, mayor of his town, hero of the French Resistance -- so who were those 27 dead, whose dismembered and burned bodies were found in the slaughterhouse that was his Paris home? Nazis & Nazi collaborators as he claimed or Jewish refugees looking to escape the Gestapo?

Diabolical, cruel and cold-blooded serial killer hunted women in North America and Britain. Because prostitutes were often his victims, he was suspect in the famous Whitechapel Ripper case.

Likable, friendly young man evolves into a murdering nurse's aide who loses control of his inner demons, taking the lives of 30 to 70 patients. Review of new book on Donald Harvey.

Angel of Death in the garb of a respiratory therapist he murdered 40-50 patients. There was talk around the hospital about the night shift and the "magic syringe." A few workers had their suspicions. When staff members are alone with patients and no one else is around, they're free to do as they please. Were these "mercy killings" — trying to painlessly end the lives of dying patients? No, this was a man who liked to play God and decide when someone should die.

At least five patients recovering from brain surgery at the Albert Einstein Medical Center were murdered by injections of heparin, which caused them to bleed to death. Intensive investigation by the Bronx D.A.'s office led to suspects but insufficient evidence to prosecute. The public was never notified and families may not have learned that their loved ones were victims of a serial killer.

The science of detecting poisons, the favorite weapon of Black Widows and women who kill. Dr. Katherine Ramsland presents the history of this science and the major cases it solved.

Texas pediatric nurse takes over the care of babies and murders them by injecting one after another. Almost as criminal is how the hospitals and staff ignored the problem until Genene's shift became known as the Death Shift.

The mother of the first victim saw Jones kneeling at the foot of her daughter's grave, sobbing and wailing the child's name over and over. She rocked back and forth, apparently in deep anguish, as if Chelsea had been her own daughter.

His intercontinental murder spree lasted from 1983 to 1987. Good looking, blonde, blue eyed and affable, openly supportive of his authorities, he was often well liked and appreciated by fellow professionals. He was aware of his charisma and used it to cover his suspicious maneuvers and his chronic lies. The nurses knew he was up to no good — dangerous even, but the other doctors paid no attention until the suspicious deaths started piling up. When the FBI finally caught him, he explained how he loved the "sweet, husky, close smell of indoor homicide[these murders were] the only way I have of reminding myself that I'm still alive."

Former nurse William Mechert-Dinkel is scheduled to make his first court appearance on May 25, to defend against charges in the suicide of Nadia Kajouji and others. He is accused of frequenting chat rooms for the depressed and suicidal and convincing people to kill themselves while he watched.

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