Research Paper On Harold Shipman

Wretchedly, Harold Shipman was Britain’s most prolific serial killer. Unfortunately, Harold Shipman was found dead by his own hands, hanging in his jail cell at Wakefield prison on January 13, 2004, taking many secrets to the grave with him. Tragically, the former family doctor killed approximately two hundred and fifty of his patients over the course of twenty-three years. The fifty-seven year old was serving fifteen life sentences when he took his own life (Batty, 2005).
Harold Frederick Shipman was born the middle child of a working-class family on January 14, 1946; however, quickly he became his mother’s favorite child. Regrettably, his mother was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, and Harold was there to take care of her until she passed

Subsequently, this inquiry failed to contact the General Medical Council, and Shipman’s criminal records were never checked, which if they had run his criminal history, it would have shown evidence of Shipman’s previous record. Later, a thorough investigation showed that Doctor Shipman had altered his patient’s medical records to collaborate the cause of death. Doctor Shipman’s patients loved him, and he hid behind his status of being a caring family doctor, which makes it indistinguishable when Shipman began his murderous spree, and exactly how many victims he had killed. In fact, the only reason that Doctor Shipman was stopped was due to Angela Woodruff, the daughter of one of the victims who refused to accept the explanations that she was getting in regards to her mother’s death. Kathleen Grundy was an active and wealthy eighty-one-year-old who was found dead in her home on June 24, 1998, after a visit from Doctor Shipman. Doctor Shipman advised her daughter, Angela Woodruff that an autopsy was not required, so Angela proceeded with the burial arrangements that were already in place. However, when another will appeared that left Doctor Shipman a bulk of her mother’s estate it

Angela Woodruff was the first witness, and her determination to get the truth impressed the jury and she was not shaken by the defense. Next, the government pathologist led the court through the horrific findings from the autopsies where morphine toxicity was the cause of death. Then, fingerprint analysis proved that Kathleen Grundy had not handled the forged will, and her signature was dismissed as a forgery by the handwriting analysis. The computer expert testified how Doctor Shipman had altered his patient’s medical records to show symptoms that the patients never had exhibited, these notes were shown to be created within a hours of their deaths. As the trial proceeded onto the other victims, Shipman’s pattern of behavior was becoming clearer. Shockingly, Shipman’s lack of compassion, his disregard for attending relatives, and his reluctance to revive patients was bad enough, but another fraud was brought to light; Shipman would fake phone calls to the emergency services while the relatives were present and then hang up when they left the room, phone records proved no calls were made to the emergency services. Lastly, the prosecutors