Harold Shipman’s murder weapon of choice was diamorphine ("Serial Killer, Dr. Harold Shipman, A.K.A. Dr. Death"). This is a medication used to treat pain in patients with severe pain, as well as, terminally ill cancer patients, However, it is lethal when given in an excessive amount ("Morphine Facts | Resources | Best Drug Rehabilitation"). Morphine was an excellent choice of a murder weapon for Shipman for multiple reasons. First, death from morphine toxicity would be difficult to determine without performing an autopsy on the body. The deceased patients would appear to the physical eye that they died of natural causes. Being a practicing medical doctor, Shipman could easily have access to morphine by prescribing it to people who didn’t need it, over prescribing morphine to people in need, and by gathering remaining unused morphine from the homes of his deceased patients ("Harold Shipman"). These are things that Shipman did in …show more content…
He requested many his victims for cremation ("Serial Killer, Dr. Harold Shipman, A.K.A. Dr. Death"). Cremation would destroy any evidence of morphine toxicity making it impossible to actually determine a cause of death. The patients that weren’t cremated, he recommended that there was no need for an autopsy. Therefore, Shipman would go back and alter the deceased patients’ medical records in the computer, therefore, it would show that they were suffering from failing or poor health. Without investigating deeper into the medical records, at first glance the medical records would appear to be authentic. Ultimately, Shipman possibly could have continued his murderous ways for several more years if he had not forged a new will for Kathleen Grundy, consequently, causing the daughter to become suspicious and start an investigation of her own ("Serial Killer, Dr. Harold Shipman, A.K.A. Dr.