TheAnatomiser

Colin Norris has just been convicted of the murder of four women at hospitals in Leeds. His chosen weapon appears to have been insulin, a drug which is used to control levels of sugar in the bloodstream. In large overdoses it quickly causes coma, followed by death, unless sugar (glucose) is administered intravenously, and quickly.

It is sadly not uncommon to find people in apparently ‘caring’ positions abusing that position. The most famous cases in the UK in recent years include those of Beverly Allitt and Harold Shipman. The reasons why such people carry out these acts remains mysterious, and the subject of published research. Recurring themes include monetary gain (often by staff in nursing homes, which can be places where it is easier to avoid detection), ‘power games’ (for want of a better expression) and wanting to appear as a hero. This last motive requires some timing - perpetrators will poison a victim and then appear as if by magic to save their life, just in time. This may have been partly the reasoning of Benjamin Green, who was convicted of two counts of murder just under a year ago, in a case with remarkable similarities to this one.

Insulin has long been a favourite drug of killers, and is featured in the recently Oscar-nominated film ‘Michael Clayton’ starring George Clooney. The character played by Tom Wilkinson is assassinated during the course of the film, by killers who apparently inject him with insulin between the toes. This route is said to be difficult to detect post mortem, but is probably not used in reality as to be really effective and fast, insulin should be delivered intravenously, and veins between the toes are often impossible to find.

Thankfully the overwhelming majority of healthcare workers naturally find this sort of behaviour as abhorrent and inexplicable as does everyone else. Various explanations have been offered in this horrible case, the ‘power game’ being favoured by psychologist Dr David Holmes, who is quoted as saying

“This person may have felt that doctors rule the roost but ‘I am as clever, I am the kind of person who can deal with life and death’, and administers literally life and death to affirm their own status or self-appointed status”.

Tags: Killers //