Free The Mammoth Book of Bizarre Crimes by Robin Odell Page B

a role better suited to the destructive impulses of nurses and carers who are entrusted with administering treatment to patients usually in hospital or nursing homes. The problems of dealing with sick, elderly and, sometimes fractious, patients can overwhelm the ethics of caring to the point where they opt for elimination. One such carer, Colin Norris, grew to despise those he was supposed to care for while Waltraud Wagner disposed of patients who were a nuisance. Access to hypodermic syringes, intravenous drips and prescribed drugs provided ample means.
    Apart from the elimination of troublesome patients on hospital wards and in nursing homes, another motive is that of satisfying a craving for self-importance. Genene Jones thrived on emergencies in the wards where she cared for babies as did Beverly Allitt and, between them, they were responsible for at least five infant deaths. Jane Toppan was a nurse who enjoyed the power she had over patients because they trusted her. Robert Diaz had visions of grandeur and asked to be called “doctor” while Robert Harvey maintained the pretence that he was carrying out mercy killing. Between them this deadly trio accounted for the deaths of over eighty patients and possibly more.
    With the notable exception of Harold Shipman who murdered 215 of his patients, doctors tend to limit themselves to one or two victims. Dr Michael Swango however, is an exception in every sense. Known to his colleagues at medical school as Double-O-Swango (licensed to kill), Swango left a trail of death behind him wherever he practised, accounting for thirty-five murders using lethal injections. He was obsessed with poisons and addicted to playing God.
    Licensed To Kill
    In 1984, Ohio State University Hospital in the US dispensed with Dr Michael Swango’s services following the mysterious deaths of several patients. The following year, while working as a paramedic at Quincy’s Blessing Hospital in Illinois, he poisoned five colleagues with arsenic but with no fatalities. He was tried for these offences but the evidence was regarded as inconclusive. The judge determined that Swango did not intend to kill his poison victims but only wanted to study their reactions. He was given the minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment.
    Hospital colleagues recalled that Swango kept files of newspaper cuttings dealing with cases of poisoning, including the umbrella murder of Georgi Markov in London in 1978 using ricin. In conversation, he gave his view that poisoning was a good way to kill people. He went a step further while watching a television programme about serial killer Henry Lee Lucas when he suggested it would be a treat “to travel around the country killing people”.
    On release from prison, Swango easily secured a post as a physician at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Iowa by the simple device of concealing his criminal record. When his past caught up with him, the hospital authorities dismissed him. Yet, once again, he quickly found new employment, this time at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Northport, New York state. He worked at Northport for four months in 1993. During that time four patients in his care died. Again, the authorities dismissed him when they learned of his record. But the damage had already been done by the doctor’s toxic injections. Perhaps feeling the heat, he absconded to foreign parts.
    For eight months in 1994/95, he worked as a physician at Mnene Mission Hospital in Zimbabwe. His presence was marked by the death of patients and a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with five fatal poisonings. Dr Swango left Zimbabwe in 1997 en route to a new medical post in Saudi Arabia but encountered difficulties over his visa. Thismeant taking a flight to a destination in the USA, which would issue the necessary document. On arrival in Chicago, he was arrested for a minor offence.
    In due course, Swango was charged with three counts of murder related to the deaths