# The No.1 Serial Killer is a doctor **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 5, 2001, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533 "2001-01-05T05:38:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/1 "2001-01-05T05:38:45Z")
Check [this](http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1101000/1101480.stm) out. The motherfucker is Harold Shipman and he may have killed up to 250 women. What did this excuse for a human being do for a living? He was a fucking DOCTOR who poisioned his patients. People who went to him for help and trusted him with their health. What a world we live in :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/2 "2001-01-05T05:54:59Z")
Nah, number one is [Pedro Alonso Lopez](http://www.mayhem.net/Crime/serial1.html). Body count of 300+. And there’s always Herman Webster Mudgett, AKA [Dr. Henry Holmes](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_455.html)… ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/3 "2001-01-05T06:07:55Z")
Every UK news artical I’m seeing is calling him no.1. Thanks for the correction. 🙂 Still a shit lot of people. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![schief2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@schief2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/schief2)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/4 "2001-01-05T06:10:55Z")
Aw, come on…numbers alone don’t tell the whole tale. For my money, the worst serial killer ever may be Pakistan’s own [Javed Iqbal](http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/99/1224/nat.pakistan.killer.html). Granted, he may have “only” killed 100+, but keep in mind that was during the course of **one single year**. All kids, too: > [@](#): > > Over the past year, Iqbal claimed to have lured 100 young boys to his house and sexually assaulted them, before murdering them and then dissolving their bodies in acid. The self-confessed serial killer also sent a 32-page diary recording the children’s particulars, plus the dates of their murders. The diary contained photographs of over 50 victims and clippings of newspaper advertisements of missing children. Sick fucks. Kill 'em. Kill 'em all. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/5 "2001-01-05T06:15:07Z")
This is turning into a general anti-murders/sick fucks threads. Good. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/6 "2001-01-05T12:04:09Z")
What about Hitler? He didn’t directly kill people, but he had millions killed. I still think he’s #1. ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/7 "2001-01-05T12:37:48Z")
Yeah, yeah and what about God? He’s indirectly caused the death of every human no longer on this planet! ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/8 "2001-01-05T15:01:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kabbes \* > \*\*Yeah, yeah and what about God? He’s indirectly caused the death of every human no longer on this planet! \*\* Who? > [@](#): > > It compares the pattern of deaths at both his former practice in Hyde, Greater Manchester, and his first practice in Todmorden, Yorkshire, with other similar practices. Isn’t it VVC that the doctor turned into **Hyde** in Hyde, and that Todmorden contains the words for “death” in two different languages? Creepy. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/9 "2001-01-05T20:12:11Z")
“When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first among criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge.” - Sherlock Holmes, as quoted by Arthur Conan Doyle. This guy makes Michael Swango look like a piker. I guess it’ll be a little tougher for British docs to get access to heroin now. Most of the killings by health care professionals in the U.S. have been by nurses. Wonder if the Brits have experienced anything like that. ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/10 "2001-01-05T21:26:57Z")
Way to get the family name some publicity, Harry\*. Shit. \*Note: though I have the same last name, I am not in any way related to this sack of excrement. ---
**Author:** ![eBathory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@eBathory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eBathory)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2001, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/11 "2001-01-05T22:08:54Z")
Since my moniker is derived from her, Erzsebet Bathory: [http://jove.prohosting.com/~mclough/bathory.htm](http://jove.prohosting.com/~mclough/bathory.htm) …who killed at least 600. Her story has been sensationalized a lot, though it is still very unique and interesting for a number of reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/12 "2001-01-06T00:19:34Z")
You post about Countess Bathory, and you don’t link to Cecil’s article discussing her activities? Shame! [Did Dracula really exist?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_131.html) ---
**Author:** ![Fonz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Fonz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fonz)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/13 "2001-01-06T00:28:03Z")
The first famous serial killer was a doctor, Jack the Ripper. You may recall his half-fictionalized story, Arthur Conan Doyle’s “A Study in Scarlet” ---
**Author:** ![Fonz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Fonz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fonz)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/14 "2001-01-06T00:29:37Z")
Make that "The first famous medical serial killer was a doctor, Jack the Ripper. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/15 "2001-01-06T01:27:45Z")
Sorry **Yojimbo** > [@](#): > > The motherfucker is Harold Shipman and he may have killed up to 250 women. His victims certainly included men too. The has been a statistical analysis of his patients comparing his caseload with similar ones and it appears that there were at least 250 very likely candidates, but with no actual cases defined, of patients over 65 years old. We have not yet had the studies across his whole practice from newborns upwards, lord alone knows where this will end. It is easy to comment but the fact is that until the last five or ten years medical practitioners have had such a hold on their own disciplinary procedures that they have been virtually untouchable in the UK. This IMHO is the natural result of a lack of independance in the medical system licensing board in the UK and it is changing for the better and very fast. It is a last remnant of our class sytem whereby certain occupations had a ‘smoke and mirrors’ authority over those not in the privelidged circle. ---
**Author:** ![Nacho4Sara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Nacho4Sara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nacho4Sara)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/16 "2001-01-06T01:43:15Z")
Oooh, scary stuff. That column Cecil wrote about Henry Holmes gave me nightmares for _weeks_. Eesh! This thread combined with NyQuil, and I’ll be having super-strange nightmares involving aliens and serial murderers all freakin night! :mad: Thanks a lot! ---
**Author:** ![Torgo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@Torgo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Torgo)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/17 "2001-01-06T01:48:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jackmannii \* > [BThis guy makes Michael Swango look like a piker. \*\* I just read “Blind Eye,” the book about Swango’s killings/poisonings and how they were all needlessly overlooked and covered up by his bosses. Needless to say, I’ll never root for Ohio State ever again. ---
**Author:** ![Alatariel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Alatariel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alatariel)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/18 "2001-01-06T02:19:24Z")
As a sidenote: According to FBI profiling techniques (that I’ve read about) organized serial killers tend to be intelligent,and often white men as well. Taking for granted that since doctors have to go through so much schooling, most of them are smart (and a large number of them are white males). So, if you were into power trips (and killing is often described as the ultimate trip by SKs), and doctors are often seen as authority figures, (again, another power trip), I think the profession would be attractive to SKs. Add to this that medicine (such as emergency medicine) can be a life/death situation, and I can easily see how that type of person would desire to enter the profession. I believe, however, that a med student’s character is looked at by admissions as well as his/her academic ability…presumably to screen out those with obvious-ah-shortcomings. However, as “Blind Eye” pointed out, once a person makes it into med school, the teaching doctors will forgive quite a bit to keep the student from failing. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/19 "2001-01-06T02:45:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AWB \* > \*\*What about Hitler? He didn’t directly kill people, but he had millions killed. I still think he’s #1. \*\* Don’t forget “Uncle” Joe Stalin, except for the outright genocide of the nazis, he made Adolph look like a crude beginner. As to the doctor and his pals, kinda reminds me of how William Burroughs always called doctors “Croakers”. They didn’t want to cure you, _au contraire_, they wanted you to be sick so that they were assured more business. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533/20 "2001-01-06T03:30:25Z")
What about Mengele-the Angel of Death at Aushchwitz? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-no-1-serial-killer-is-a-doctor/48533.md?page=2)