Dr. Michael Swango

It is worth noting that the person who might be the most prolific serial killer this country has ever known is a doctor. He never has been convicted for any of his murders. Probably also because he is a doctor.

At Ohio State University Medical Center he was observed injecting something into a patient who immediately suffered paralysis and nearly died. He was cleared in a cursory investigation in which evidence was destroyed and patient testimony mischaracterized.

At Southern Illinois University School of Medicine his peers joked that he seemed to have a license to kill, like double oh seven, and nicknamed him "Double Oh Swango" because many patients on whom he had just collected histories suddenly became acutely ill, some even dying.

When medical students, nurses, patients, and paramedics tried to alert in-house authorities, the complaints were written off as jealousy or unfounded gossip.

Part of the problem is his apparent lack of motive. In medical circles when patient safety comes up, one repeatedly hears it said that a doctor would have no motivation to injure a patient.

The title of James B. Stewart's book about him explains the root problem: "Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away With Murder."

White Wall of Silence

Dennis Cashman, the judge on one of Swango's trials, said, "There is an unwritten rule in the medical profession. Inept doctors do not get reported."

In medicine it is routine to circle the wagon's on patient safety issues, protecting problem operators at the expense of patients. Healthcare professionals do not believe this. That's why they perpetrate it.

Witness the behavior of state medical boards.

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When even murders are protected by the culture of secrecy
what hope is there for reporting errors?

Home | Table of Contents | It's a Path
Silence versus Patient Safety
Loyalty versus Patient Safety
The White Wall of Silence versus Patient Safety
Blacklisting Patients
Freedom of Speech for Patients
Medical Complaints - How to

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It's a path

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Revised November 16, 2008