Doctor Death
On March 6, 1995, Marie West depended on Doctor Shipman to help her. Instead, she was met with her death by a fatal dose of diamorphine. This was the case for many of Harold Shipmans’ patients, who came to him in hopes that he would help.
There were an estimated 250 patients that he killed, most of them due to fatal doses of diamorphine. He is considered one of the most notorious serial killers, along with also being known as an amazing doctor. Many like to call him “Doctor Death.” Harold Shipman is a great representation of why you can never trust someone, even if they are meant to save your life.
Harold Shipman’s Personal Life and Education
Shipman was born on January 14, 1946, in Nottingham England. His parents were Vera Shipman and Harold Frederick Shipman. He was the middle child of 2 other siblings. He was said to have had a great relationship with his mom, which meant her death in 1963 had a great impact on him. As he was watching his mother’s doctor administer morphine, his interest in medicine developed.
Soon after, Shipman went to medical school and got his degree at Leeds School of Medicine, in fact he was the first in his family to go to a university and he graduated in 1970. Later on, he met his wife, Primrose Oxtoby and when they married, she became Primrose Shipman. Their marriage lasted 40 years until he was arrested for his crimes, and in those 40 years they had 4 children, Sam Shipman, Sarah Shipman, Christopher Shipman, and David Shipman.
The Victims
Shipman’s first victim was in 1975 when he had just become a GP (general medicine practitioner). Mrs. Eva Lyons was suffering from terminal cancer when he made a visit to her house on March 17. According to Dame Janet Smith (the judge who prepared Harold Shipman’s inquiry), “Mr. Lyons told his daughter that he thought Shipman had helped his wife ‘on her way.’” The following year, he was discovered forging prescriptions of pethidine and was fined hundreds of dollars along with attending a drug rehabilitation clinic for only a short time.
Eventually, he continued his work as a GP. Shipman continued these killings from 1975 to 1998, with only a bit of suspicion from his co-workers. The reason that his murders went on for so long was because his tactics were to kill the people whose deaths would go unnoticed.
The End of the Killings
One of his co-workers expressed her concerns about the high death rate of Shipmans patients, and that was only the start. Kathleen Grundy, 81 years old and also the former mayor of Hyde, was the last victim of his and was one of the reasons that Harold Shipman was finally caught. Shipman’s murders were discovered in 1998 after he attempted to forge the will of Grundy to be cremated after he had given her a lethal dose of diamorphine.
After her body was exhumed, they found traces of the diamorphine, Shipman claimed that Grundy was a drug addict. Finally, in the same year, he was arrested. In January of 2000 he was found guilty of numerous murders and sentenced to life in prison.
During Harold Shipman’s trial, his wife, Primrose, seemed unaware of his crimes and claimed he was innocent. He hung himself in his cell in 2004, after being in prison for around 4 years. He was then pronounced dead at 57 years old. However, his wife and children did not attend his cremation.
Why did he do it?
Shipman was said to be an arrogant person according to his co-workers. He even went as far as to call the other doctors where he worked “inferior.” He was the first doctor in British history to have deliberately killed his patients. Hopefully, he will be the one and only to do so.
There are many theories as to why Harold Shipman killed his patients. Some say it was due to his mother’s sudden death, and others say he did it to euthanize elderly people so they wouldn’t be a “burden” to the healthcare system. No one truly knows why he did what he did.