Profession
Physician dead in apparent suicide
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Feb. 2, 2004
Dr. Harold Shipman, a British physician who is believed to have killed 215 to 260 of his patients between 1975 and 1998, was found dead in his prison cell Jan. 13, hanging from a noose made from his bed sheets, BBC News reported.
Dr. Shipman, 57, allegedly injected his victims with heroin, and Reuters reported he was caught only after the daughter of his last victim challenged her mother's new will in which she had left everything to the physician. The victim's body was exhumed, and heroin was found in her remains.
Dr. Shipman had been serving a life sentence since January 2000 after being found guilty of murdering 15 patients and forging a will.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/02/02/prbf0202.htm.