Intentionally harmful violations and patient safety: the example of Harold Shipman (June 2009)

Summary

Harold Shipman was an English doctor who killed approximately 15 patients while working as a junior hospital doctor in the 1970s, and another 235 or so when working subsequently as a general practitioner.

Is it possible to learn general lessons to improve patient safety from such extraordinary events?

In this paper, published in the US Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, it is argued that it is not possible fully to understand how Shipman came to be such a successful and prolific serial killer, nor to learn how the safety of healthcare systems can be improved, unless his diabolical activities are studied using approaches developed to investigate patient safety.