Dr. Death By Harold Frederick Shipm Serial Killer

Harold Frederick Shipman earned the title Dr. Death when he was convicted as a serial killer estimated to have murdered well over two hundred and fifty of his patients (Harold Shipman, 2014). Harold Shipman was born in January 1946 in Nottingham, England and lost his mother to cancer at the age of seventeen (England, 2015). Nicknamed “Fred” growing up, Harold was very close to his mother, even known to be her favorite (Harold Shipman, 2014). Harold’s mother instilled in him a sense of entitlement believed to be the root cause for his well-known personality later in life that he was above most people (Harold Shipman, 2014). In his mother final days, Harold took a deep interest in how the morphine treatment positively aiding in her dying, which ultimately motivated Shipman to attend medical school (Harold Shipman, 2014).

By the mid 1970’s, now Dr. Shipman, had two children and obtained work as a family practitioner in Yorkshire (Harold Shipman, 2014). His first assignment as a doctor was short lived as he became addicted to a drug called Pethidine, which is a very similar drug to the painkiller Morphine (England, 2015). Dr. Shipman was eventually found guilty of forgery, fraud, and self-prescribing himself Pethidine (England, 2015). Dr. Shipman agreed to admit himself into a rehabilitation program, which substantially reduced his punishment (Harold Shipman, 2014). As stated by Dr. Grieve, a fine and forgery conviction was all Dr. Shipman received, and he was also allowed to maintain his medical license (England, 2015). This of course proved to be unfortunate for his many victims