MEDICAL MURDER - Dr Robert M Kaplan

I've been meaning to read this book for a while now - the subject being doctor's who kill.  It's a smallish book that summarises a number of medical murders - including the best known from recent times - Dr Harold Shipman in the UK.  But it doesn't just concentrate on Shipman.  The book also looks at the cases such as the Australian experience with Deep Sleep Therapy at Chelmsford; Dr William Palmer who poisoned people for the insurance money; Dr Marcel Petiot in 1944 Occupied Paris; Dr Radovan Karadizic the psychiatrist who led the genocide in the Bosnian war and a number of other interesting, and different examples.

The sobering thing about many of the cases looked at in this book is how "untouchable" a doctor can often be - the lack of scrutiny, even an unwillingness to believe that a doctor could possibly be totally out of control was extremely disturbing.

But this isn't a disturbing book as the writer gives analysis and possible reasons for all of the extreme behaviours.  The book also highlights a lot of the reasons why the doctors were able to get away with their behaviour, and in many cases, what led to their downfall.

Undoutedly uncomfortable subject matter - but interesting nonetheless.