Death Dealers Help Along Elderly, Disabled and People Who KNOW TOO MUCH
DEATH DEALERS USED TO GET RID
Of Those Who Hold
The Evidence!
By D'Anne Burley
Doctor death came to my door attempting to murder me via bad medicine within hospital settings and within the use of medicine which can cloak the attempt of commission of murder by having people look like they have died via nature means. When in fact they are involved in commiting murder and faking that they are hospital workers and or other healthcare workers.
HEALTHCARE HOMES IN ILLINOIS AND WHY IS IT NOT BEING ENFORCED BY THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ILLINOIS AND OR THE STATES ATTORNEY OF DUPAGE COUNTY?
| Illinois Governor Signs Legislation to Make Nursing Homes Safer; New Law Requires Criminal Background Checks for More Employees at Long-term Care Facilities |
| Posted on: 08/31/2005 |
 |
| SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – In an effort to make the state’s nursing homes and other healthcare facilities safer, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich today signed legislation to expand the types of employees at long-term care facilities who must undergo criminal background checks. House Bill 2531 requires healthcare facilities to initiate background checks for employees that have contact with residents. Before this law, only direct care staff members were subjected to background checks. “Families deserve the peace of mind of knowing that their loved ones are safe. That’s why my administration is making every effort to protect residents of nursing homes and other health care facilities in House Bill 2531, initiated by the Illinois Department of Public Health and sponsored by Rep. Kevin Joyce (D-Worth) and Sen. Edward D. Maloney (D-Chicago), requires that Illinois healthcare facilities initiate a criminal history record check for all employees, excluding physicians, hired on or after that date with duties that may involve contact with residents, access to their living quarters or access to their financial, medical or personal records. Currently, only certified nurse aides and other direct care, unlicensed staff are included in the background checks. The law is effective Jan. 1, 2006. The changes to the Health Care Worker Background Check Act will allow the Illinois Department of Public Health to use a $2.5 million grant received earlier this year from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS) to upgrade the process of conducting criminal history record checks for employees with direct care access to individuals in long-term care facilities. The three-year grant will be used to expand the state’s long-term care employee background check program by requiring the use of fingerprint-based criminal history record checks. The current system is a name-based criminal history record for direct care, non-licensed staff. “This grant will expand the number of healthcare employees who must submit to background checks and will require a more thorough background check of those workers,” said Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, state public health director. “The combination of the two will help improve the quality of care provided in Illinois.” The Department is one of seven states selected to participate in the National Healthcare Background Check Pilot Project, administered by CMS. As part of the pilot project, selected healthcare employers would be phased in to participate in the program between Jan. 1, 2006, and Jan. 1, 2007. Selected employers could include nursing homes, community living facilities, home health agencies, hospices, assisted living facilities, supportive living facilities, day training programs, or community integrated living arrangements. Employees would have their fingerprints submitted to the Illinois State Police (ISP) and the FBI, which would then furnish records of convictions to the Department. If the employee has a disqualifying offense as outlined in the Health Care Worker Background Check Code, such as murder, criminal sexual assault, forgery or robbery, the employee will not be allowed to work at the facility. With the fingerprint-based search, the ISP will retain the fingerprint images and any future convictions will automatically be reported to the Department. Under the current system, convictions that occur after the search would not be reported until after another search is conducted. “The fingerprint-based criminal history records check is a more thorough screening process,” said Whitaker. “This will result in faster and more complete criminal conviction information, which can be used to assure and protect the health, safety and welfare of nursing home residents in the state.” “This legislation will allow IDPH to implement a federal grant that will help improve the care given to nursing home residents as well as prevent problems that may be caused by employees who have no business working in a long-term care facility. I am glad the Governor continues to enact legislation that will protect our seniors and the most vulnerable in the state of Illinois,” Rep. Joyce said. “This new law will further strengthen the state’s efforts to protect those living in nursing homes, many of whom are unable to protect themselves,” Sen. Maloney said. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) was a strong proponent of the legislation. “Instituting a thumbprint system and extending the background check requirements to cover all facility personnel that have access to residents and their records serves to plug the holes in the current system and offer more protection to our state’s frailest population,” said Donna Ginther, manager of state affairs, AARP Illinois Legislative Office. Source: Illinois Department of Public Health |
INTRODUCTION TO MURDER BY HEALTHCARE! SHOCKING FACTS
from the dairy of a nurse who knew what is going on behind the scenes....
Karen Ann Quinlan
(Information obtained from the internet)
In April 15, 1975. Karen Ann Quinlan was 17 years old when she apparently consumed tranquilizers and alcohol and collapsed at a party.
She had ceased to breathe for two separate periods of 15 minutes each. The examining doctors agreed that she had suffered irreversible damage and was in a persistent vegetative state, without hope of recovery.
The hospital agreed to the parent's request to remove the respirator, but the primary care physician refused to fulfill the family's wishes due to second thoughts and moral concerns because Karen was still technically alive. The hospital supported the physician's decision.
Karen's parent's went to the New Jersey Supreme Court where the court sided with the parents.
The physicians, anticipating a ruling to cut off her respirator, set about weaning Karen off the respirator. They were successful!!!!! When the court's ruling came down that the respirator should be cut off, she had already been successfully weaned off of it. The ruling then was irrelevant.
Karen then, breathing on her own, lived another 8 years.
Euthanasia By Withholding Food and Fluid
Withholding fluid and food is the most common method of euthanasia.
The average person can survive for about 10 days without water. and about 40 days without food. This varies according to his body weight.
When food and fluids are withheld, these are the physical changes that can occur:
1. Drying of the mucous membranes
2. Constipation
3 Gastric symptoms such as abdominal cramps, nausea, and vomiting
4. Emotional symptoms such as confusion and depression
5. Delusions
6. Urinary and bowel infections
7. Bronchitis and pneumonia
At times, the results of this is so painful to see that it is hidden from the family.
I started helping the nurses' aides with their cleaning work. As an R. N. I certainly did not have to do it. However, I had some free time at the end of the shift and I wanted to help others to get their work done. I never ever thought that just because I was an R. N. that I was above doing cleaning work. I am a great believer in the helping others approach. When one's work was done, they would help those who still had work to do.
I had previously been told by the owner that the family did not want the patient to learn to walk up and down stairs. I didn't believe a word of it.
The day came when I was told that the family did not want the stroke patient to come home. I continued my therapy/ My job as a nurse was to bring the patient back to the highest level of health possible. Whether or not the family took the patient home was not my concern. My therapy continued.
Then one day the owner told me to do my cleaning before I did the therapy. I didn't mind helping with the cleaning, but to tell me to put it first before my therapy was just too much. I WILL NEVER PUT ANYTHING BEFORE MY PATIENT'S CARE!!!!!!!!
Even though this was my first job back after becoming sick with my eyes and ears problems and badly needed the job, I said that I didn't need the job so badly that I would fail to do my best to help the sick. I resigned the job that day!!!! I went to another nursing home where I was very happy. I loved the owners and I believe the patients got the best care possible. Ironically before my shift was over, I overheard some visitors talking about how "clean" the home was. I said to myself, "At what a price!"
Two Extremely Shocking Events
Since I was no longer able to drive a car due to my eye condition, I had to work at places where Stan and I could travel to work together. He got a summer job cutting grass at an apartment complex in northern Cincinnati. There was a beautiful new, air conditioned nursing home near there. I started to work there for the summer. It was the most beautiful nursing home that I had ever worked in.
I really enjoyed working there and I liked the staff. My job was to teach the new nursing aides how to care for a patient. Many of these were young people doing summer jobs.
I thought everything was fine. Little did I know that I would soon experience two events that would shatter my life forever.
ONE DAY WHEN I WENT ON DUTY, I AND ALL THE NURSES WERE GIVEN INSTRUCTIONS THAT ALL PATIENTS 65 YEARS OF AGE AND OVER WERE NO LONGER TO BE RESUSCITATED IF THEY WENT INTO CARDIAC ARREST.
All of us reading those instructions were shocked beyond belief. All of us said we would not obey such an order no matter what they said. It was sad enough to have a patient die by natural causes, but to participate in that killing was unacceptable. Believe me, I was no longer a nurse that believed the doctors could do no wrong and that every body in the health field were dedicated to life and helping the sick.
Also, at this time, I learned many more things about what was happening in health care.
1. I learned that these new rules were patterned after the socialized medical practices already in effect in England.
2. I was told that a practice of allotting days for certain conditions was coming into effect. In other words: if you had a heart attack, you would be allotted so many days to get well. If you weren't well within that time, you would be set into one of the dying rooms and all treatments stopped.
Some time later, at that same nursing home, I experienced another earth shattering event. We had a patient come in who had breast cancer. I believe she was about 49 years old She was very weak and was semi-comatose. Since I was the admitting nurse, I made my usual examination to find out her needs. I found that she was totally impacted with stool. I soon gave her an enema and cleaned out the colon.
We also started spoon feeding her. If we dropped a tiny bit of liquid in her mouth at a time, she would swallow it. We kept working and working with her, she revived and became alert..
Well, when the doctor came to see her, he was extremely angry!!!! He wanted to know who had given her an enema. I told him that I had. He very angrily said, "Who gave the order? I told him that at that nursing home we had house orders that gave permission to the nurses to give enemas at our discretion.
He said, "I brought that patient in to die. The family can't pay her bills." He continued his angry mumbling before quieting down.
The patient quickly regained her strength and was discharged. She and I were extremely happy. the doctor and family were extremely angry..
I LEARNED THEN THAT PATIENTS WERE SOMETIMES KILLED BY DELIBERATELY ALLOWING THE BOWEL TO CLOG UP BECAUSE THEY COULD NOT PAY THEIR BILLS.
This was my first encounter with deliberately killing an adult person. I knew of the deliberate killing of deformed babies by starvation, but this was the first for an adult.
I am really glad that I was able to foil up his plans!!!
| |
Doctors, Nurses and Healthcare Workers
Involved in Murder all over the Globe
and indeed there is a pattern
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
News
Doctor, nurses testify in murder trial
BEDFORD - Testimony in Shay White's murder trial continued this morning when a nurse talked about the night that White's 82-year-old grandmother died at Dunn Memorial Hospital.
Sharon Nicholson, a registered nurse, cared for Erma Prince the night she died in September 2002. Nicholson told of a conversation with White.
White, 33, 1517 16th St., is accused of killing Prince while Prince was recovering from a left hip pinning at Dunn. She was indicted by a grand jury on a charge of murder in 2004. An autopsy revealed Prince had a lethal level of propoxyphene in her system.
In testimony this morning, Nicholson also spoke of a blood thinner injection she gave Prince at 3 a.m. on Sept. 16, 2002.
"She was confused," Nicholson said. "She appeared afraid to me. ... She bolted upright in bed, and her eyes were large and dialated."
In testimony Wednesday, Dr. Jonathan Hart, an emergency room physician, testified. He spoke of a call at 4:45 a.m. on Sept. 16, 2002.
"I pronounced her dead," he said.
When he arrived, Prince had the early stages of rigor mortis, which was a factor in the decision to stop cardiopulmonary resusitation.
"I'm not a forensic pathologist," Hart said. "But in my research rigor mortis, which is the stiffness of death, that (condition) starts anytime from 10 minutes to four hours after the death."
Others who spoke Wednesday included nurses who cared for Prince.
Prince fell at a Salvation Army Church camp and broke her hip. She was later taken to the Dunn emergency room.
Kevin Childers is an RN at Dunn. Among his duties during the night of Sept. 14 was to take care of Prince before her surgery the next morning.
He specifically remembered admitting Prince to the hospital and an incident with White.
"Well, as I was admitting her, there was medication she said Erma hadn't had yet," Childers said. "She was wanting her to have it. ... She was very pushy. She said, 'Well, just turn your back and I'll give it to her.'"
Childers watched as Prince resisted. After some talking, White was able to get Prince to take the medicine.
"I could tell there was a problem there," Childers continued.
He said Prince was somewhat sleepy at the time.
"I fully believed that she knew Shay was trying to give her medication," he said.
Childers also was present when White signed a consent at 11 p.m. on Sept. 14, 2002, for the hip surgery, which was scheduled to be a hip replacement the next day.
"I didn't see any document (that listed White or her husband Ed White as power of attorney for Prince) they just told me," said Childers.
According to Prince's medical record from the hospital stay, Shay and Ed White were in and out of Prince's room at 1 a.m.
Childers left work at 7 a.m. on Sept. 15, 2002, during a routine shift change.
Later that morning, Prince was prepared for surgery and had a hip pinning instead of the planned replacement.
"The physician opted for a different surgical option," said Dana Beaver, an RN at Dunn who was working as an operating room circulator that day.
She went to Prince's hospital room to pick her up for surgery and Ed and Shay White were there. While speaking with Prince, Beaver asked the Whites to wait in the meditation room of the hospital.
Beaver testified they wouldn't wait in that room and went outside Prince's hospital room instead because they had small children. Beaver then transported Prince for her surgery.
After the doctor decided to change the procedure, he went to find one either Shay or Ed White to sign another consent form for the new surgery.
"Originally I was considering replacing the hip but then I thought (pinning it would be better)," said Dr. James Rickert, an orthopedic surgeon affiliated with Dunn.
He talked with the family about the procedures.
"I talked with the family including Ed White," he said.
Ed White signed the consent for the new surgery but the page was not dated or timed.
There were no complications during surgery with the exception of a Prince's blood pressure fluctuating.
She was given a reversing agent to help wake her up from the surgery.
"That would not be a sign of distress," he said.
Mildred Ellett was working as a licensed practical nurse the day of Prince's surgery, Sept. 15, 2002, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. She was assigned to take care of Prince.
She had Shay White sign a consent for anesthesia for Prince at 9:45 a.m. because she was power of attorney. She also did not request proof of the power of attorney.
Prince was returned to the medical floor at 12:50 p.m. that day from surgery and at that time awoke easily and answered questions appropriately. Her family was at her bedside.
"She was alert," Ellett said, of Prince after the surgery. "Some of her family members were there. They were holding the phone up and talking to other family members."
Rickert visited Prince after the surgery and said she appeared to be doing well.
"She was doing well," he said. "She was comfortable."
He also made the decision for Prince to have a PCA, also known as a patient controlled analgesia. The PCA contained morphine sulfate, and Rickert ordered it be put on the lowest setting.
"To be on the safe side, I ordered it to be put on the lowest setting," he said. "(In older people) like that I would always choose the lowest level to not give them too much."
However that's what White worried about, according to other testimony.
Kim Greer was working on the medical floor the night of Sept. 15. Prince was not one of her patients.
"(White) was like standing in the doorway of the medicine room ... talking to one of the nurses," Greer said, adding that Shay White appeared to be upset that Prince couldn't push the button to receive the pain medication. "She was just concerned that (Prince) would hurt. ... Shay was concerned her grandma wouldn't have adequate pain control through the night."
Shay White also asked nurses to keep an eye on Prince.
"I would probably describe her as maybe being (overly concerned) because the conversation went on a fairly long time, maybe 15 minutes," Greer said. "She was so concerned her grandmother was overmedicated."
After Prince was pronounced dead, Greer helped clean Prince's body and room. With another nurse, she flushed morphine from the PCA down the sink.
In addition, she said she saw Shay White at the hospital sometime between 7 and 7:45 p.m. and then again shortly after Prince died.
The director of pharmacy at Dunn, Karen Fair, also testified that she checked the levels of Darvon at the hospital shortly after Prince's death.
"We had no usage of propoxyphene since March of 2002," she said.
Wednesday's portion of the trial was to begin at 8:30 a.m. But it was delayed until 11 a.m. because copies of Prince's medical record needed to be made.
Times-Mail Staff Writer Diana Wires can be reached at 277-7266 or dwires@tmnews.com.
Nicholson found Prince dead at 4:45 a.m.
===================================================
Ex-male nurse gives murder trial evidence
By Saima Sabir
The former male nurse accused of murdering two of his patients and poisoning 18 others told jurors how he had watched one of them die.
 |
The 25-year-old is accused of murdering pensioners Anthony Bateman, aged 67 and David Onley, aged 77 during their treatment.
Mr Geen, who had been working as a staff nurse, pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and 18 counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.
Mr Geen, who was wearing a black suit, told Oxford Crown Court on Thursday Mr Bateman had been in very poor health when he arrived at the accident and emergency department.
The defendant said he had taken Mr Bateman’s for observation on his arrival at Horton General Hospital in January 2004.
“I took him for observation and informed the Medical House Officer immediately because he appeared to be a very unwell gentleman.
“The biggest problem I saw was that he was suffering from a shortness of breath and breathing very fast and inefficiently. He appeared to be slightly grey.” Geen said he had become concerned when he returned from a chest X-ray and had called doctors back to reassess Mr Bateman.
“He was becoming more drowsy with not much respiratory effort, so we moved him to the resuscitation unit.
“There was an arrest call put out but no verbal yelling. We started to bag him. There was a discussion on what to do and what could have happened. Nobody wanted to make a final decision at that time on what treatment to give him due to his medical history.” Mr Geen told the jury of six men and six women that two of the doctors present had called more senior medics, before deciding to discontinue treatment.
“A decision was made by both of the consultants that any further aggressive intervention would not be in this patient’s best interests.
“He did not appear to be making any type of respiratory effort but as it took 30 to 45 minutes for him to pass away he must have been making some type of effort.
“An oxygen mask was applied. That was the only drug other than saline that was still being administered.” Mr Geen said he had remained with Mr Bateman until shortly after he stopped breathing.
The jury had earlier heard how Mr Geen looked “elated” and said “oh gosh here we go again” as elderly Mr Bateman’s life slipped away.
Anne Shea, the sister in charge of nurses at the A&E department where Mr Geen worked, said the defendant had appeared to revel in the drama of emergency situations.
Speaking about the moment Mr Bateman’s condition turned critical, she said: “We had a really busy morning and he – Ben – said ‘oh gosh here we go again’ and seemed sort of quite elated, which seemed quite strange.
“His eyes were bright. It’s true you try to lighten the situation but I just felt that he was elated.” The trial, which has lasted more than a month had earlier heard allegations that Mr Geen had administered various drugs to stop or slow the breathing of mainly elderly patients for the thrill of being involved in their resuscitation.
On Friday, in the witness stand, Mr Geen was taken in detail through his memories of treating 15 different patients in January 2004.
Mr Geen, who at times appeared nervous and took regular sips from a glass of water, told the court that there had been nothing unusual about his dealings for each of the patients.
In each and every case Mr Geen denied that he had done anything wrong, insisting he had only ever administered drugs prescribed by doctors.
The trial continues.
| | |
South Africa (1)
The Attempt of Murder of those involved in Civit Rights Activities
 An appeal court refused to overturn his acquittal |
The court said ex-biological weapons head Wouter Basson, should face trial on charges of crimes against humanity.
Mr Basson has been accused of being involved in a number of plots to poison anti-apartheid activists, including Nelson Mandela, using deadly bacteria.
However, he was acquitted of murder and other charges by a judge in 2002.
The South African Court of Appeal refused to overturn the acquittal.
But the country's highest court said the original judge had erred when ruling that the original charges fell outside South African law because they involved crimes allegedly committed outside the country.
In an unanimous decision, the high court said the country was obliged under international law to prosecute charges amounting to crimes against humanity.
Many of the original charges stemmed from horrific testimonies during the Truth and Reconciliation hearings.
======================================
 Jayant Patel's whereabouts are currently unknown |
But that is precisely what happened at Queensland's Bundaberg Hospital after Dr Jayant Patel started working there in 2003, according to hospital staff.
The realisation of just how many botched operations were carried out by Dr Patel is only now coming to light.
An investigation was launched in March after nurse Toni Hoffmann complained about the large number of procedures performed by Dr Patel which had led to serious complications.
An interim report published on Friday recommended that he should be charged with both murder and negligence - if he is ever found.
Dr Patel fled Australia in April, and while Queensland state authorities want to seek his extradition, his current whereabouts remain unknown.
The case of Dr Patel - whom local media have dubbed "Dr Death" - has caused huge controversy in Australia, not least because it highlights a potentially worrying lapse in checks on overseas medical staff.
Unbeknown to his colleagues, Dr Patel had already been banned from surgery in the US states of New York and Oregon before his arrival in Australia.
Fatal mistakes
The inquiry into Dr Patel's alleged malpractice at Bundaberg Hospital has linked him to as many as 87 patient deaths.
We'd taken to hiding patients. We just thought 'What on earth can we do to stop this man' 
In an interim report published on Friday, the head of the inquiry team, Tony Morris, said the surgeon should be charged with the murder of James Edward Phillips, who died shortly after Dr Patel surgically removed part of his oesophagus.
Other medical staff at the hospital said they had refused to carry out the surgery, because it was too risky.
Dr Peter Miach, a renal specialist at the hospital, said the operation was "fraught with danger" and that he "would have been very surprised if [the patient] would have survived".
The inquiry concluded that in the case of James Phillips, "the surgical procedure undertaken by Patel... was, objectively, likely to endanger human life".
But the report also catalogues many other cases of alleged malpractice and recommends that Dr Patel is also charged with negligence causing harm.
One charge relates to the care of Aboriginal woman Marilyn Daisy, who developed gangrene in her leg after she was allegedly left without treatment for weeks following an amputation.
"There was no follow-up, the stitches in the stump were left there for six weeks...there were areas of infection, areas of gangrene, areas of necrosis and, in fact...there was quite a concern whether... this lady might lose a bit more of her leg," the inquiry heard.
In another case, a woman's life support machine was reportedly turned off because Dr Patel allegedly wanted her bed to operate on another patient.
Nurse Toni Hoffmann told the inquiry that Dr Patel had tried to drain blood from a man's heart with a "stabbing motion". The man died later that night.
"All the nurses in intensive care were seeing these patients dying every day and we couldn't do anything," Ms Hoffman told the inquiry in March.
"We'd taken to hiding patients. We just thought 'What on earth can we do to stop this man'," she said.
Falsifying records
Dr Patel has also been accused of fraud for allegedly falsifying his application to practise medicine in Australia, by removing any mention of his previous blemished record in the US.
After studying medicine in India, Dr Patel moved to New York, where the first complaints against him were made in 1984, when he was found not to be examining patients adequately before surgery.
He moved to Oregon in 1989, to work for Kaiser Permanente in Portland as a general surgeon. Due to concerns over his work, Kaiser restricted him from carrying out certain types of operations - such as liver and pancreatic surgeries - in 1998.
In September 2000, the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners made these restrictions state-wide, and the year after that Dr Patel was forced to surrender his US medical licence in New York.
Dr Patel's case has raised concerns over the recruitment of overseas doctors in rural parts of Australia, where there is a current shortage of medical personnel.
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said his government would adopt all the recommendations put forward in the commission's interim report, and that it would act immediately to keep "charlatans like Patel out of Queensland".
"This happened on our watch. This will be a matter on our consciences until the day we die," Mr Beattie told the Australian Associated Press.
The new recommendations include harsh penalties for doctors who provide false information on their registration forms.====================================
| Doctor of Death | |
 | |
The Columbus Dispatch reports "the bizarre case of Dr. Michael Swango is a hot potato that has been scorching Ohio State University (OSU) for 15 years." Swango was dropped from OSU's residency program in 1984 after being accused of poisoning patients there and is currently in federal prison in Oregon after falsifying his medical credentials in New York. He is suspected of killing as many as sixty people from Ohio to Africa. Swango is eligible for release from prison in early 2001.
Swango reportedly grew up with a father obsessed with death and disaster; Swango kept his father's scrapbook and added his own clippings about death. He attended Southern Illinois University Medical School (SIU) in the early 1980's, where it took five years for him to graduate because of poor grades and where he was reportedly fired from an ambulance job because he forced a heart attack victim to drive himself to the hospital instead of transporting him. And beginning at SIU and continuing to OSU, there were darker concerns about Swango; people in his care and around him were more likely to get sick and to die.
In his book Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away With Murder, author James B. Stewart lists the following among many strange incidents involving Swango at SIU:
- During his senior year, Swango wrote a paper on the poisoning murder of a writer living in London. The man had died of a poison called ricin; in large enough doses it is invariably fatal.
The ambulance company that fired Swango had earlier restricted him from direct patient contact.
Fellow students referred to his strange behaviors as "Swangoing"; fellow workers at the ambulance company called him "Double-0 Swango" because of his obsession with killing and death.
When required to dissect part of a cadaver, Swango reportedly was so incapable he shredded the cadaver "like he had used a chainsaw", seemingly strange for someone who later studied to be a neurosurgeon.
Several students wrote a complaint letter to medical school officials outlining Swango's incompetence, lack of care for patients, and arrogance toward medical procedures and the medical school. SIU Medical School officials considered expelling him; their vote to expel failed by only one vote.
James B. Stewart, the Columbus Dispatch, The Other Paper, and other sources tell similarly eerie stories of Swango's performance at OSU University Hospitals:
- The very first day Swango began making rounds in the neurosurgery rotation, January 14, 1984, patients started dying. The death of Cynthia McGee, a Dublin native who was recovering nicely until she met up with Swango, was just the beginning.
On February 7, Rena Cooper was recovering from back surgery when Swango put something in her IV line. A student nurse observed Swango; minutes later Cooper turned blue and shook her bedrails. After Cooper recovered, she told OSU police Swango had put something in her IV; her roommate told the same story. A nurse's aide also reported he saw Swango emerge from another room with a "shit-eating grin", a big goofy grin on his face.
A total of four deaths occurred during Swango's five-week stint at OSU. All of them were suspicious; yet an investigation team made up of OSU administrators and staff found no evidence of wrongdoing by Swango. One OSU administrator (no longer with the university) who was part of the team said "physicians badly botched the investigations, but there was also this understanding that this kind of thing can't have happened at the great OSU hospital." (The Other Paper, July 20-26, 2000, Page 2) Stewart says the allegations were dismissed as "gossip" from staff and that patient accounts were "unreliable".
Swango then worked in pediatrics at Children's Hospital as part of his internship. At one point he bought fast-food chicken for co-workers he referred to as "extra spicy". All who ate the chicken vomited profusely.
Rather than conducting a proper investigation, OSU chose to drop Swango from their internship program. In July Swango returned to his hometown of Quincy, Illinois to work as a paramedic. In October he was accused of poisoning six of his coworkers (they lived), and was sentenced to five years in prison. During his trial, Swango admitted he bought the poison in Columbus in 1983. Quincy authorities asked OSU officials to investigate Swango, but at this point it appears physical evidence was no longer available in Columbus. Swango then went on to work as a doctor in Virginia, New York, and Zimbabwe, where more patients mysteriously died in his "care".
OSU conceded to ABC News in August, 1999 that "we should have called in outside police authorities to investigate in 1984". (Columbus Dispatch, September 14, 1999, Page 1A) Yet OSU's Lee Tashjian, vice president for university relations says "we've probably gone beyond what was recommended" and wrote in a letter to the editor of the Dispatch that "while there is little we can add to what is already known about the events related to the employment of Swango in 1984, we believe it is appropriate to comment when serious questions are raised about the quality and substance of our operations and services today." (Columbus Dispatch, September 26, 1999, Page 2B) And while OSU denies reports they aren't cooperating with federal officials, the Dispatch quotes former OSU Medical Director Donald Boyanowski as saying "these are not bad people deliberately trying to cover up a murder, but these are people who used terribly bad judgment and don't want to admit it or do anything about it in the future." Former OSU Police Chief Peter Herdt says "Everybody wanted it to just go away." (Columbus Dispatch, September 14, 1999, Page 1A)
Columbus NBC affiliate WCMH-4 reports Swango will plead guilty to three poisonings in New York as part of a deal to avoid the death penalty. The Dispatch says this will give Franklin County prosecutors enough evidence to charge him with McGee's death. Swango is reportedly pleading guilty to avoid extradition to Zimbabwe where he would likely receive the death penalty.
=================================
HOW THE ELDERLY ARE IN HOMES WITH RAPIST AND THEFTS IN CHICAGO
Chicago Sun-Times Editorial
April 26, 2005
Predators don't belong among our most defenseless
How would you feel if you put your 80-year-old mom in a nursing home and discovered, by chance, that her room was next to that of a convicted rapist? The nursing home director wouldn't have been able to alert you about your mom's felonious neighbor because he may not have known about it himself. There is no rule requiring criminal background checks for people moving into nursing homes. Forget about your mom's sense of safety and security.
There are 100 sex offenders residing in 54 nursing homes, long-term care facilities and supportive living centers around Illinois. There are also 61 parolees convicted of other crimes, such as murder, arson, burglary and drug possession, living in 37 nursing homes or other specialized facilities for the aged or the infirm. Many of the state parolees in these centers, living side by side with your daughters or uncles or mothers or friends, have mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. These disturbing facts came to light following an investigation by Sun-Times reporters Chris Fusco and Lori Rackl.
They learned that one sex offender placed in a nursing home, Thomas Kolze, had been discovered rubbing an Alzheimer's patient's thighs and inappropriately touching another woman. The nursing care staff thought Kolze, who had been sent to the home in June 2003 because he had heart and kidney problems, would be safe among elderly adults, since his crimes related to children. He was sent back to prison, but he is out again, living in a supportive living center in Evergreen Park.
Sex offenders are listed on a state registry, but you have to go through a few hoops to determine if they are in the nursing home with your loved one. And why would you even suspect? You'd figure the facility would do some checking. But that isn't required. In the case of non-sex offenders, the state says releasing the identities of parolees in nursing homes is an invasion of privacy. So mom's safety is trumped by a felon's rights.
Illinois isn't the only state grappling with this problem. A seniors' rights group, A Perfect Cause, determined last year there were 600 sex offenders in living-assisted homes across the nation, and many were under 60 years old. There have been few reports of criminals in Illinois' care facilities committing crimes. Yet there remains the potential for harm. Also, crimes and abuse at nursing homes are under-reported.
State Rep. Kevin Joyce (D-Chicago) wants to amend Illinois' Nursing Home Care Act to ban sex offenders and violent criminals from living in nursing homes. This is an idea that needs support. Some form of disclosure to patients about criminals in their midst should be required. An alternative is to house all these felons in a separate mental health or nursing facility where they would have no opportunity to prey on unsuspecting patients. Criminals' rights should never supersede those of our guiltless loved ones.===============================================
posted by The D'Anne Burley Show at 10:59 PM
1 comments
