MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. This offender was known as a reclusive individual who seldom spoke to his
neighbors. His co-workers knew him as a man with a quick temper who sometimes
threw medical charts and slammed his fist on counters or walls when summoned by
patients. Patients were known to refuse meds because of their aversion to him.
a. Wayne Bleyle
b. John Riems
c. Harold Shipman
d. Donald Harvey
2. Which of the following IS NOT true regarding euthanasia?
a. It is still a crime in most states.
b. It originated in Asia.
c. It involves a medical provider trying to ease the suffering of a patient.
d. It involves a medical provider believing that letting a person die or assisting them in
dying demonstrates mercy for the patient.
3. Yorker, et al., identified some typical scenarios in serial murder of patients by
healthcare providers. Which is not typical?
a. the presence of a common injectable substance in post mortem
b. deaths that cluster on the night shift
c. epidemiologic studies linking presence of a specific care provider to increased
likelihood of death
d. the sexual assault of the patient
4. According to Yorker, et al., what is the most common way to kill?
a. injections
b. pills
c. inhalants
d. suppositories
5. According to Yorker, et al., where do most healthcare-related murders occur?
a. in hospital settings
b. in patients’ homes
c. in local clinics
d. in ambulances
6. In their study of 90 cases of serial murder, Yorker, et al., found that 86 percent of
their cases involved nursing personnel and that women were involved in ____ percent
of the cases.
a. 82
b. Less than 30
c. 55
d. 49
7. What was Heinrich Gross also known as?
a. Dr. Grotesque
b. Dr. Death
c. Dr. Golem
d. Dr. Vomit
8. Which of the following is not true regarding Harold Shipman?
a. He came from a wealthy aristocratic background.
b. His father was a lorry driver.
c. His family lived in a small house in Nottingham.
d. His mother died sitting in her armchair.
9. Harold Shipman was convicted of killing how many victims?
a. Between 200 and 300.
b. 23
c. 15
d. Less than 10
10. What are healthcare providers who murder often diagnosed with?
a. bipolar disorder
b. major depressive disorder
c. body dysmorphic disorder
d. Munchausen syndrome
11. What sorts of murders are trademarks of place-specific killers?
a. dutiful, regular, and methodical
b. violent and gory
c. feature well-hidden corpses
d. have victims who are the same sex
12. How did the Third Reich refer to children with defective genes?
a. useless citizens
b. white inferiority
c. white liars
d. useless eaters
13. This killer managed to avoid punishment and was even awarded prestigious honors
for his research. He became an expert on the pathology of mental illness and, after the
war, lectured and became an expert court witness in thousands of criminal cases.
a. Charles Cullen
b. Wayne Bleyle
c. Efren Saldivar
d. Heinrich Gross
14. The Yorker study found that most healthcare providers who committed murders
came from which states?
a. Illinois, Kentucky, and Florida
b. California, Hawaii, Florida, and Georgia
c. New York, Alabama, California, and Illinois
d. California, Texas, Michigan, and Florida
15. What is one area that geographic profiling is not designed to address?
a. gender-specific murder
b. place-specific murder
c. disorder-specific murder
d. character-specific murder
16. What are offenders who kill family or relatives called?
a. angels of death
b. black widows
c. demons of death
d. brown recluses
17. What is true regarding “place-specific” killers?
a. Nearly half are male offenders.
b. They are not stay-at-home killers.
c. Nearly one third have dumpsites for bodies.
d. Nearly all have dumpsites for bodies.
18. Charles Cullen confessed to the murders of how many patients over a period of 16
years?
a. 40
b. 13
c. 2
d. over 20
19. At the Toronto Hospital for Sick Children in Ontario, Canada, dozens of infants were
believed to have been killed with overdoses of what drug?
a. pavulon
b. succinylcholine chloride
c. morphine
d. digoxin
20. This sophisticated drug used in some murders is difficult to detect once the body
has been prepared for burial.
a. oxycodone
b. morphine
c. caffeine
d. potassium chloride
21. This offender was a respiratory therapist for nine years. He confessed to killing
dozens of terminally ill patients over 10 years. He claimed to be an “angel of death” who
had killed as many as 200 victims.
a. Charles Cullen
b. Efren Saldivar
c. Donald Harvey
d. George Clooney
22. Why are offenders who kill in hospitals and nursing homes not easy to identify?
a. They do not attract media attention.
b. They are loud killers who go about performing their tasks poorly.
c. They are unfriendly and cold.
d. They are outwardly dispassionate.
23. Why do hospitals and nursing homes fall prey to healthcare killers, even after they
have been terminated from a previous job?
a. They tend to be charming and good-looking.
b. Their references are seldom checked.
c. Hospital and nursing-home administrators are lazy.
d. The job isn’t that important.
24. This “angel of death” started killing when he/she turned 18 and began working as a
nurse’s aide at Mary Mount Hospital in Laurel County, Kentucky. He/she first killed an
aunt, then committed what he/she referred to as “accidental homicides,” followed by 10
or more patient deaths.
a. Kristen Gilbert
b. Dolores Claiborne
c. Filipina Narciso
d. Donald Harvey
25. After Donald Harvey was arrested, what was found among his possessions?
a. a letter to one of the victims expressing his remorse
b. a list of victims yet to be killed
c. pictures of all his victims
d. a Bible with passages about murder underlined
26. Kristen Gilbert is believed to have injected her patients with large doses of this drug,
causing their hearts to beat rapidly and uncontrollably.
a. adrenaline
b. digoxin
c. morphine
d. potassium chloride
27. Convicted of giving an 89-year-old patient a heart–stopping chemical, this offender
received 17 years for her conviction.
a. Genene Jones
b. Terri Rachals
c. Kristen Gilbert
d. Jane Fonda
28. This drug was used by Genene Jones in the murder of 15-month-old Chelsea
McClellan.
a. potassium chloride
b. adrenaline
c. cyanide
d. succinylcholine
29. According to the text, what is believed to be Genene Jones‘s motive for killing?
a. to draw attention to how lax hospitals are in their care
b. to take revenge on parents of children who were rude to the nursing staff
c. a need to prove there were enough sick children to justify construction of a pediatric
intensive-care unit in Kerrville, Texas
d. thrill-seeking
30. Which is not a red flag that may signal suspicious activity in hospitals, hospices, and
nursing homes?
a. The family was at the patient’s bedside at the time of death.
b. Fellow employees often report allegations to investigators, not management.
c. There are no eyewitness to the crime.
d. The weapon of choice is usually a sudden death chemical readily available on the
ward and often considered non-detectable or not checked at autopsy.
TRUE/FALSE
1. Every year in the United States, about 80,000 persons die in hospitals unrelated to
the reasons for which they entered hospital care.
2. The most prolific, documented serial killer ever in all of Europe is Heinrich Gross.
3. According to the Yorker study, nurse’s aides were more likely to suffocate, use
poisons, or administer oral medications.
4. Killers who work in the health care industry are seldom lust killers.
5. Healthcare killers meet the general criteria for serial killing except for the stereotypic
element of violence.
COMPLETION
1. In some cases, suspicions are aroused because patients suffer multiple _____ and
the resuscitation rate is unusually high.
2. One investigator described _____ as “…the dullest serial killer I have ever met.”
3. Often _____ are not performed when a death occurs under the care of an attending
physician.
4. Succinylcholine, a relatively undetectable drug, is used as an _____ to relax muscles
during surgery.
5. Serial killers usually seek out those _____ than themselves.
ESSAY
1. Why was Harold Shipman the most prolific documented serial killer in Europe? In
your opinion, what factors made this possible?
2. Discuss reasons that Yorker, et al., excluded authentic euthanasia from their study.
3. Analyze why, at one time, healthcare providers who killed their patients were
excluded from being classified as serial killers.