Providentia

The Nazi Patient

Adolf Hitler never had much luck with his doctors (not that being a hypochondriac helped).

And he certainly had his share of medical issues.  Along with lingering problems from his World War I injuries (including posttraumatic stress), he also suffered from uncontrollable flatulence. Ever since childhood, the Fuhrer experienced spasmodic stomach cramps, diarrhea, and constipation although medical historians seem divided on whether this was due to physical causes or lifelong stress. 
Whatever the reason, dining with Hitler was often an uncomfortable situation for his supporters due to the digestive attacks that happened after most meals.  Although no one dared comment whenever Hitler jumped up from the table and rushed to his room, his medical issues definitely grew worse over time.  While trying to cure himself by going over medical manuals (including embracing a vegetarian diet where possible), being a rabid hypochondriac left Adolf Hitler acutely self-conscious about his health.  Not only did he examine his stool with elaborate care, but he also experimented with various fad remedies.   Along with camomile enemas (don't ask), he also swore off meat completely after 1931 and only ate heaping plates of vegetables which were carefully prepared for him.  He also refused all cooked foods (which he considered to be cancer-inducing) and only ate a high-fibre diet.  For Adolf Hitler, a daily regimen often involved oatmeal with linseed oil, cauliflower, asparagus tips, and artichoke hearts .  This vegetarian fare did little to cure his digestive problems but der Fuhrer refused to consider anything else.  His mistrust of most medical doctors seemed to stem from the audacity of some of them to suggest that many of his problems were psychosomatic and that his self-diagnosis and treatment were at the root of his problems.

But his health issues only got worse after meeting Dr. Theodor Morell...

Born and raised in a small village in the upper Hesse,  Morell trained as a gynecologist and obstetrician and became a licensed physician in 1913.  Despite his thorough grounding in conventional medicine, he developed a reputation for favouring unconventional medical treatments in his Berlin medical practice.  Which he made various claims to an academic career, including studying under legendary bacteriologist, Elie Metchnikoff and teaching in different universities, the actual historical evidence for his acadamic career seems suspect.  Not that this stopped Morell from labelling himself as a professor at times, or owning shares in several pharmaceutical companies.   Theodor Morell's unlikely rise to prominence only began when he met Adolf Hitler during a party at the Berghof near Berchtesgarden in the Bavarian Alps.   It still isn't clear why Hitler decided to make Morell his personal physician. 

While historians have speculated that he may have treated Hitler for his recurring syphilis, the official story seems to be that Hitler was won over after Morell helped cure a painful case of eczema on his legs and provided temporary relief for his stomach cramps.   The other Nazi doctors had little respect for Morell (aside from his fondness for quack cures, he was also grossly obese with a body odour problem) but, from 1937 onward, Dr. Theodor Morell had complete control over the Fuhrer's medical care.   Although Hitler had another doctor previously, Dr. Karl Brandt, it was Theodor Morell whose medical opinion he relied on (infuriating Brandt and the other doctors).

And it was some care.  While Theodor Morell was probably not a complete quack, the medical treatment that he provided to Adolf Hitler seems bizarre, to put it mildly.   Morell was a firm believer in polypharmacy - treatment with multiple medications  (and the fact that the good doctor owned shares in many of the drug companies likely influenced his medication choices).    He also preferred to administer drugs by injection rather than oral doses.  To deal with the Fuhrer's stomach problems,  Morell chose not to send his star patient for a thorough gastronintestinal examination (despite Germany having some of the best internists in the world).  Instead, he prescribed a generous dose of "Dr. Koester's Anti-Gas Pills" for Hitler's stomach problems.   The Fuhrer took as many as sixteen of these pills a day, which was probably a bad idea since they contained dangerous levels of strychnine and atropine.   Even in small doses, both ingredients are deadly poisons and likely contributed to many of the adverse symptoms Hitler displayed during the last years of World War II (including glazed eyes, sallow skin, attention problems, and mood swings).  

Along with the pills though, Dr. Morell also began giving his patient daily injections of methamphetamine.   It is hard to say when Dr. Morrell first introduced Adolf Hitler to this new medication (or whose idea it was) but the daily injections apparently began by late 1941 or early 1942.  This was in addition to the other medications, including methamphetamine pills that Hitler took by mouth.  Hitler's arms eventually became riddled with injection marks and even Eva Braun grew to despise Morell and referred to him as "that injection quack" as she was talking to her mother.   She also dismissed his office as being a "pig sty" and refused to allow him to give her any more medical care.   By 1942 however, even Hitler's staunchest supporters were noticing that their leader was becoming increasingly bizarre with signs of distrust, irritability, loss of control, and poor decision-making - all signs of methamphetamine addiction.   These symptoms continued right up to the end of the war and Adolf Hitler's suicide on April 30, 1945.  

After their leader developed jaundice in 1944, three other doctors (including Karl Brandt) tried to have Morell fired but Hitler adamantly opposed them.  Whether this was through loyalty to Morell or his own amphetamine addiction is an open question.    Suspicious of the jaundice attack, Heinrich Himmler even went so far as to question Morell's assistant, Richard Weber, over whether the doctor was deliberately poisoning their leader, Weber replied that it was "out of the question.  Morell's too big of a coward for that".  While Hitler's mental deterioration during the last months of his life has been extensively written about and attributed to mental illness and the corrupting influence of absolute power, a more recent book has suggested that the treatment received from Dr. Morell may have played an important role in his downfall.  

As for Theodor Morell, his own downfall was rapid enough.  On April 22, 1945,  a week before his suicide, Adolf Hitler dismissed Morell from his Fuhrenbunker in Berlin and told him that he no longer needed medical care.   In poor health himself, Morell left a large supply of medicine in the bunker for Hitler's needs and managed to catch one of the last German flights out of the city.  He quickly fell into Allied hands however and spent the next two years in an internment camp on the site of the former Buchenwald concentration camp.   While the interrogators were repelled by Morell's lack of personal hygiene (his body odour was as bad as ever), they managed to collect complete details of the astonishing treatment that he provided Hitler.  In addition to the amphetamine injections, Hitler also took more than twenty-eight other kinds of medication including vitamins, testosterone, opiates, liver extracts, laxatives, and sedatives.  That also included some more innovative remedies including cocaine eyedrops (Hitler had ten of these a day), human placenta compounds, and "potency pills" made from ground bull's testicles.  According to Theodor Morell's diaries (now in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.), Hitler still suffered from daily flatulence despite the bizarre range of medications Morell offered.   If Morell hadn't been such an obvious Nazi toady, the Allies might well have pinned him with a medal for his role in Hitler's defeat.   As it was, he was released after two years of internment without ever being charged.   He died on March 26, 1948 of stroke-related problems.

It's easy to dismiss Dr. Theodor Morell as a total quack who was only propelled to the ranks of power because he was willing to provide his star patient with the medical care that more ethical doctors wouldn't.  Still, many of those same "ethical doctors" (including Karl Brandt) were later prosecuted for a range of war crimes involving human medical experimentation and other Nazi extermination policies.  Since there was no evidence that Morell was involved in the same way that other Nazi medical doctors were, he was never charged.  Presumably, Morell wasn't considered competent enough to participate in mass murder.

 If so, being a quack had its advantages

 

Faking Remorse

Emotional deception is a common behaviour that can have major consequences if undetected. For example, the sincerity of an offender's expressed remorse is an important factor in sentencing and parole hearings. A research study pubished in a recent issue of Law and Human Behavior was the first to investigate the nature of true and false remorse. The researchers examined facial, verbal and body language behaviours associated with emotional deception in videotaped accounts of true personal transgressions accompanied by either genuine or falsified remorse. Analyses of nearly 300,000 frames indicated that descriptions of falsified remorse were associated with a greater range of emotional expressions. Further, sequential analyses revealed that negative emotions were more commonly followed by other emotions—rather than a return to neutral emotion—in falsified versus sincere remorse. Participants also exhibited more speech hesitations while expressing deceptive relative to genuine remorse. In general, the results suggest that falsified remorse may be conceived as an emotionally turbulent display of deliberate, falsified expressions and involuntary, genuine, emotional leakage. These findings are relevant to judges and parole board members who consider genuine remorse to be an important factor in sentencing and release decisions.

For the abstract.

Charles Manson Denied Parole

Decades after he and his "family" terrorized California with a bizarre series of murders, the question of what to do with Charles Manson remains a familiar one for the California prison system.   Although his attorney argued that he should be transferred to Atascadero State Hospital during his most recent hearing, a parole board has determined that Manson should remain in prison.   The hearing is the twelfth time that he has faced the parole board since he was first incarcerated and only his attorney was present to hear the decision.  Manson himself has not attended a parole hearing since 1997 and remains housed in a special protective custody unit at California's Corcoran Prison.   Despite being protected from prisoners in general population for his own safety, Charles Manson enjoys a steady stream of visitors including college students wishing to write term papers on him.   Along with his visitors, he also receives mail from numerous curiosity-seekers and members of the personality cult that has sprung around him.  Following his last parole hearing in 2007, the parole board  concluded that "he continues to pose an unreasonable danger to others and may still bring harm to anyone he would come in contact with".    In recent years, Manson has been cited for numerous institutional infractions including having a homemade weapon in his possession.  In March 2009, he was found to have called people in California, New Jersey and Florida with a cell phone that he had managed to smuggle into his cell and a second phone was found a year later.   It is still unclear who he contacted with his phone before it was found.

Manson's crimes arose from his leadership of a quasi-commune in California during the late 1960s.   Believing that a race war was imminent (which he called "Helter Skelter"),  Manson inspired his followers to murder actress Sharon Tate (who was eight months pregnant at the time) along with six other people during two August nights in 1969.   Arrested after an extensive manhunt, Charles Manson and many of his followers were charged with seven counts of murder and one of conspiracy.  Almost from the time of his arrest, he attracted a cult following which prosecutor Vince Bugliosi wrote about in his book on the Manson murders.    Manson was sentenced to death for his role in the murders (along with Susan Atkins,  Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten) but this was commuted to life imprisonment in 1972 after California's Supreme Court temporarily eliminated the death penalty.   Since that time, Charles Manson has managed to remain in the public eye by playing on his fame as a counterculture symbol for insanity and violence.  Even his own appearance reflects his taste for showmanship with his trademark swastika engraved into his forehead.  In addition to his numerous unsuccessful parole hearings, the attempt on then-President Ford's life by Manson follower Lynnette "Squeaky" Fromme, his capitalizing on his notoriety by releasing his own recordings of voice and music, as well as various memorable media interviews (including one with Charlie Rose which won an Emmy in 1987) have ensured that Charles Manson is not easily forgotten.   

One of the central issues surrounding Charles Manson's various parole hearings involves the question of his sanity.  Despite numerous psychological profiles have been compiled on Manson (based either on direct interviews or through media analysis) and numerous diagnoses including antisocial personality disorder, bipolar disorder, psychopathy, and paranoid schizophrenia, it seem apparent that he is better housed in a prison than in a psychiatric hospital.    Although there is little chance of Charles Manson ever receiving parole, the Los Angeles district attorney's office has publicly opposed his ever being released and representatives from the families of his various victims have also filed depositions at parole hearings over the years describing the pain resulting from his crimes.  Debra Tate, sister of Sharon Tate, hopes that the latest hearing is the last time she will ever have to attend and argue that her sister's murderer should never be freed.   The 59-year old Tate has stated that "I've been doing it for Sharon and the other victims of him for the past forty years."    Under California law, Manson will not be eligible for a new parole hearing for another fifteen years which would make him 92 the next time he faces a parole board.  

Perhaps the final word on the case and Manson's likelihood of eventual parole belongs to Deputy District Attorney Patrick Sequeira who told the Washington Post, "At his age, I think he doesn't care.  He would be lost if he got out.  He's completely institutionalized."

For more information.

 

 

MP Calls for Parliamentary Inquiry to Investigate "Expert" Psychiatrist

A leading U.K. psychiatrist whose expert testimony has led to hundreds of court-ordered family breakups is now facing a formal probe to determine his fitness to practice medicine.   Dr. George Hibbert, a 59-year old forensic psychiatrist has been involved in hundreds of family services cases since leaving the National Health Service to establish his own assessment centre, Assessment in Care.  Now facing allegations of deliberately altering his professional reports to fit the view of socal services agencies and diagnosing hundreds of parents with "personality disorders",  his offer to surrender his licence to practice medicine has been rejected by the General Medical Council.  

By 2007, Dr. Hibbert was making an estimated 460,000 British pounds a year through his assessment centre and is currently believed to have a net worth of 2.7 million pounds.   He would often charge as much as 6000 pounds a week for each of the families in his care.   Concerns over Dr. Hibbert's assessment centre were first raised in 2007 following a complaint from a woman identified only as "Miss A".   Diagnosed as suffering from a bipolar disorder, she lost custody of her son and has had only intermittent contact with him since that time.   Describing Dr. Hibbert as "corrupt and evil", she adds that "Nothing will ever make up for what he has done to me and my child, I want to make sure this man is exposed and that he can never do this to anybody else".    In reviewing the case, a consulting psychiatrist accused Dr.  Hibbert of deliberately exagggerating Miss  A's behaviour and emotional state in his report since social service agencies wanted her baby to be adopted.   A letter that the complainant received from the General Medical Council states that Dr. Hibbert "has no intention of returning to clinical practice in the future"  and is pushing for a full inquiry despite his attempt to voluntarily remove himself from the register. 

After raising his concerns about Dr. Hibbert in Parliament, Liberal Democrat M.P. John Hemming has called for a full parliamentary inquiry over why government agencies paid hundred of thousands of pounds for reports that are now being investigated.    He added that "[Dr.  Hibbert] is someone about whom a number of people have complained. I am told that at least one person has refused to work for him because of what she saw as his unethical provision of reports to suit the demands of local authorities".   He also accuses Dr. Hibbert of being "the hired gun of the local authority" and that family courts often rely on such reports leading to what he described as "thousands of miscarriages of justice in care proceedings".   Mr. Hemming stated that he was alerted to a case by a whistle-blower and that he spoke to several other families who described how Dr. Hibbert's testimony led to family break-ups.

According to a news story from the Daily Mail, Dr. Hibbert has refused all media interviews and his assessment centre now appears to be closed.   Although a spokesman for Dr. Hibbert has refused to comment on the case due to confidentiality issues, attorneys for "Miss A" will be launching proceedings on her behalf against the doctor and the local authority.    Paul Grant of Bernard Chill and Axtel Solicitors who is representing her added that "We believe this distressing case may be the tip of a very big iceberg".

For more information.

Couple Sentenced to Life Imprisonent in U.K. Witchcraft Murder

In a decision recently handed down in an Old Bailey court, Judge David Paget sentenced 29-year old Magalie Bamu and her 28-year old boyfriend Eric Bikubi to life imprisonent for the gruesome murder of Magalie's 15-year old brother Kristy in December 2010.   The judge sentenced Magalie Bamu to a minimum of 25 years in prison while Bikubi would need to serve 30 years since a jury determined that he had instigated the abuse that led to Kristy's death. 

Handing down his sentence, Judge Paget stated that the killing "surpassed belief".  He added that: "I am aware of the controversy of the meaning of the word sadistic in this context.  I am in no doubt that this murder involved a sadistic element.  The intention was to rid Kristy Bamu of witchcraft.  To do that both of you brutalized and physically abused him until eventually he died.  It was prolonged torture.  A belief in witchcraft, however genuine,  can never excuse an assault on another person or the killing of another human being.  I find it impossible not to conclude that there was an intention by you, Eric Bikubi, to kill.  Perhaps not at first, but certainly at the end of the ordeal inflicted on Kristy.  You, Magalie Bamu, must have realized that would happen.  Why else say to your mother : 'If you do not collect the children, Eric will kill Kristy'""

Kristy Bamu and his two sisters were accused of witchcraft shortly after arriving from France to visit Magalie Bamu and Eric Bikubi in their east London apartment.   According to testimony presented at the trial,  Kristy and his sisters were subjected to days of sleep deprivation, starvation, and repeated attacks with metal bars, wooden sticks, a hammer, and pliers in what the prosecutor described as "a prolonged attack of unspeakable savagery and brutality".  After days of abuse, Kristy Bamu reportedly confessed to being a sorceror to end the torture.  The boy and his sisters were then forced into a bathtub and submerged in water.  An autopsy showed that he died of drowning and the 101 injuries found on his body.

While belief in witchcraft remain common across much of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, incidents involving attacks on accused witches have been on the upswing in the U.K. with at least 83 cases of children being attacked for "sorcery" in London alone.   Graphic cases of child witchcraft murder in the U.K. include Victoria Climbie, who was killed in 2000 by her guardians after accused of being a witch.   The torso of a still-unidentified Nigerian boy was found in the Thames river in 2001 and is believed to be the victim of a ritual healing sacrifice.   Forensic experts warn that Christian fundamentalist preachers in Britain have been fuelling the increasing belief in witchcraft.  Dr. Richard Hoskins, a police adviser and university lecturer who has written extensively on accused child witches, warned that Christian extremists often target immigrant families by offering expensive "deliverance services" including exorcisms, fastings, and sacrifices to rid them of malicious "spirits" believed to be tormenting them.  

While Kristy Bamu's murder and similar cases have sparked calls for police to crack down on violence against accused witches, the religious fervour driving anti-witch fear is not likely to go away anytime soon.

For more information.

What is Erotomania?

When Royce Baxter's GMC Yukon was pulled over in Washington's Thurston county in December 2010,  deputies found a handgun, four pit bulls, and a plastic bag of women's underwear, carefully sorted.  Police had been searching for Baxter after he had been spotted breaking into a home in Olympia, Washington.  Baxter's vehicle also contained a camera containing photos of the inside and outside of the house as well as pictures of the underwear of a woman living in the house and a key to the front door.    He had been obsessed with the woman, a former coworker, and had entered her house on repeated occasions to steal articles of her clothing.  Baxter was later charged with trying to have the woman's husband and his arresting officer killed.    In a statement that he made to the court during his trial, Baxter said "I am not the villain, the violent, dangerous person or criminal Detective Haller and Prosecutor (Andrew) Toynbee have attempted to so diligently and adamantly portray me as.  I am not a threat or danger to the victims … and I have never physically harmed, assaulted or injured anyone in any way, and I never would."

While everyone experiences "secret crushes" or infatuations at some point or other in their lifetimes, thosecrushes are usually harmless.   In more extreme cases though, the obsessive love can lead to far more serious consequences.  More often known as erotomania,  obsessive love is usually associated with celebrities being stalked by overzealous fans but such cases are probably more common than most people realize.   First identified by French psychiatrist Gaetan Gatian de Clerambault in his classic 1912 paper Les Psychoses Passionelles, the syndrome is also known as de Clerambault's syndrome in his honour.   Although de Clerambault considered erotomania to be found almost exclusively in females (all of the case studies in his paper were female), cases of males with erotomanic delusions were quickly identified as well   Numerous case histories have been reported in the psychiatric literature for decades but erotomania is no longer considered a separate diagnosis (it is not included in the DSM-IV and is usually classified as part of a broader delusional disorder such as schizophrenia).

 Known cases of delusional erotomania tend to share the following characteristics:

• A delusional conviction that he or she is has a "love connection" with the intended target, including  covert messages being passed back and forth
• The intended target is usually of a much higher rank or social status
• In many  cases, the patient insists that the other person fell in love first and made the initial advances
• While the intended target rebuffs the patient's advances, the patient then constructs elaborate explanations of why there is no real evidence of rejection
• The intended target endures months, if not years, of embarassment, humiliation, and fear over  the patient's advances.  If the patient is rejected too harshly, the intended target (or anyone perceived to be a threat to the relationship) may be physically harmed by the patient
• Erotomania is often a fixed delusion  which is resistant to any form of treatment

Celebrities stalked by obsessed fans include David Letterman, Uma Thurman, Steven Spielberg, Madonna,  and Rebecca Shaeffer (who was murdered by her stalker).    A study by forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz of  personal letters sent to celebrities and politicians  found that, of the 214 letters sent to celebrities, 16% showed erotomanic delusions with eleven of the writers actually believing that they were married to the object of their obsession.  Of the 100 people who wrote similar letters to politicians, five had erotomanic delusions and two believed that they were married.  While many erotomanics gradually give up when their love is not returned, the most dangerous cases involve love turning to hatred over perceived betrayal or jealousy.  One case that brought erotomania to public attention in  recent years, involved John  Hinckley Jr.'s obsession with actress Jodie Foster and the subsequent assassination attempt on  U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981.  For John Hinckley,  Jodie Foster became his entire world (likely triggered by her gripping portrayal as a prostitute in Taxi Driver).  After learning the location of her dormitory at Yale University,  Hinckley pursued Foster with numerous letters, phone calls, and notes designed to show his love for her.   In a page torn from an art book that was later found by his parents, Hinckley had written "Napoleon and Josephine- John and Jodie" under the picture of a bust of Napoleon Bonaparte.  The entire point of shooting the President involved proving to Jodie Foster that their union was inevitable by guaranteeing himself a place in the history books. 

In a final letter written just before the assassination attempt, Hinckley wrote that:

There is a definite possibility that I will be killed in my attempt to get Reagan.  It is for this very reason that I am writing you this letter now.  As you well know by now, I love you very much.  The past seven months I have left you dozens of poems, letters and messages in the faint hope you would develop an interest in me.  Although we talked on the phone a couple of times, I never had the nerve to simply introduce myself.   Besides my shyness,  I honestly did not wish to bother you.  I know the many messages left at your door and in your mailbox were a nuisance, but I felt it was the most painless way to express my love to you.  [...]

Jodie, I would abandon this idea of getting Reagan in a second if I could only win your heart and live out the rest of my life with you, whether it be in total obscurity or whatever.  I will admit to you that the reason I'm going ahead with this attempt now is because I cannot wait any longer to impress you.  I've got to do something now to make you understand in no uncertain terms that I am doing all of this for your sake. By sacrificing my freedome and possibly my life I hope to change your mind about me.  This letter is being written an hour before I leave for the Hilton Hotel.

Jodie, I'm asking you to please look into your heart, and at least give me the chance with this historical deed to gain your respect and love.  I love you forever.  John Hinckley.

Along with impressing Foster, Hinckley also apparently had a dream of somehow replacing President Reagan and living in the White House with her.  An unmailed postcard found by the FBI after the assassination attempt , Hinckley had written "Dear Jodie,  one day you and I will occupy the White House and the peasants will drool with envy".   While President Reagan recovered from the shooting, several others at the scene were not so lucky (including Press Secretary James Brady who was left permanently disabled).   Found not guilty by reason of insanity, Hinckley was confined to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C.  where he has remained ever since.   Even after his trial, he insisted that the shooting was "the greatest love offering in the history of the world" and public outrage over his sentence has spurred new legislation to restrict the use of the insanity defense.    Although he has been allowed public outings on different occasions, continuing evidence of his  fixation on Jodie Foster has generated renewed concerns over potential risk to the public (including incidents in 1988 and 1999 when he was found to have smuggled materials about foster back to his hospial room).  John Hinckley is currently seeking to have many of his current restrictions lifted by the courts.

Erotomania is often associated with stalking behaviour but most cases of criminal sexual harassment typically involve former partners or former employees/coworkers.   While celebrities typically have security staff to deal with overly amorous admirers, ordinary citizens need to rely on police for protection.  Unfortunately, many victims of erotomanic stalkers are often reluctant to make a formal complaint due to fear of retaliation or the hope that the stalker will simply give up in time.  Even restraining orders are only marginally effective unless there is an anti-stalking law in place.  Victims should take every measure possible to protect themselves including providing a picture of the stalker to friends and family as well as having an emergency police number to call (preferably dealing with the same police officer each time).  They should also refuse to respond to the stalking in any way (including meeting with the stalker directly).  Every contact attempt by the stalker should be documented and reported and victims should insist on periodic police drivebys and a security system for protection.   Victims should also avoid being alone whenever possible and should carry a mobile phone and a personal alarm. 

Sadly, none of these measures are foolproof and victims are often left isolated and afraid since police rarely have the power to act effectively until after the stalker has become violent.    For more information and to learn about available resources, please contact the following organizations.

National Stalking Helpline (U.S)

Stalkingvictims.com

Network for Surviving Stalking (U.K.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Shocking Dr. Webster (Part 2)

Continued from Part 1

Littlefield became suspicious of Webster making repeated trips from the fuel closet to the laboratory furnace which he kept burning to the point that the adjoining wall was hot to the touch.  After Webster left, he climbed into Webster's rooms through a window to investigate (all the doors were still bolted).  Littlefield found nothing suspicious except for odd acid stains although Webster would later ask him a number of unusual questions about the dissecting vaults and Parkman's disappearance.  When the police searched his rooms and laboratories, Webster later surprised Littlefield with a Thanksgiving turkey as a gift (which he had never done before).

On Thanksgiving day, Littlefield decided to investigate further and sneaked to excavate the disposal pit under Webster's private laboratory.   After finding human remains, he ran to the home of another professor and police were called.  Although there was no way to verify that the remains belonged to George Parkman (it was a dissecting vault, after all), John Webster was arrested and formally charged with Parkman's murder.  Webster denied committing murder and tried to place the blame on Littlefield.  He then attempted suicide in his cell but the strychnine that he took only made him ill.   A search of the furnace turned up other bone fragments and a chest containing an armless, legless, partially burned torso.  While a precise identification seemed impossible in that pre-CSI era, Mrs. Parkman confirmed that the body belonged to her husband based on several identifying marks.   Parkman's brother-in-law confirmed that the body was his as welldue to  the extreme hairiness of the torso.   Police also found bloody clothing belonging to Parkman and several members of the Harvard faculty conducted a thorough forensic analysis to determine that the body's height matched Parkman's exactly.

The George Parkman murder was the talk of Boston and numerous murder scenarios were spun out in the local newspapers.  Although John Webster had already been arrested, his friends and colleagues were reluctant to believe that an eminent academic could have committed murder.   Several of the alternative murder theories advanced by Webster's defenders suggested that Ephraim Littlefield was the real murderer, mainly because he had a known dislike for the upper-class Harvard faculty and John Webster in particular.    Since a coroner's jury determined that there was enough evidence to try John Webster for killing and dismembering Parkman, he was held for trial.  The stigma overhanging him and his family was enough for most of his former colleagues to distance themselves.  Many leading lawyers, including the eminent Daniel Webster, refused to defend him although he eventually received the best defense possible. 

After a spectacular twelve-day trial with Ephraim Littlefield being the star witness against him, John White Webster was found guilty of murder and sentenced to be hanged.  Public opinion was sharply divided over whether Webster was guilty and his lawyers attempted to appeal the verdict.   Despite arguing that the judge, Lemuel Shaw, had made several errors in his instructions to the jury, the appeal was denied and a plea to the governor for a pardon was denied as well.   Finally, desperate to save himself from hanging, John Webster wrote a full confession to killing Parkman but insisted that it had been in self-defense when Parkman became overly aggressive in trying to get him to repay his debt.   The point of his confession was to demonstrate that the killing had not been premeditated but was an "act of passion".   Despite his plea for mercy, the governor remained unmoved and the execution went ahead as planned.

John White Webster went to the gallows on August 30, 1850.  It was a public execution and Webster was buried in Boston's Copps' Hill Burying Ground (Harvard Medical College had no interest in claiming Webster's ody for dissection).    Despite lingering rumours that the hanging had been faked at that Dr. Webster escaped to the Azores, his wife and children were left destitute except for money from a fund collected for their benefit, along with a contribution from George Parkman's widow.  As for Ephraim Littlefield, he retired comfortably on the hefty reward that the Parkman family gave him for his role in solving the murder and convicting Webster.

The murder of George Parkman fascinated visitors to Boston for years after Webster's hanging and is still a prominent part of Boston's history.  The Parkman-Webster murder case has spawned a minor industry including books, television documentaries, and an iPhone app (the first to be accepted by a major film festival).  The complex legacy surrounding John White Webster and the trial that convicted him can't be underestimated.  As one of the first legal trials to allow scientific evidence as testimony,  the case set a legal precedent that demonstrated the value of forensic medicine to solve crimes.   While this was hardly the sort of legacy that John White Webster would have wanted to leave behind, he definitely had an impact on the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Activists Call For End of Psychiatric "Caging" in Czech Republic

When 30 year-old Vera Musilova's parents realized that they could no longer care for their mentally ill daughter at home, they arranged for her transfer to Prague's Bohnice Psychiatric Hospital where they assumed she would receive proper institutional care.  Instead, her mother was horrified to discover that her daughter's condition deteriorated due to the poor care that she received in hospital, including the use of caged hospital beds where "problem" patients were often confined.    According to a representative from the Czech Republic's Civic Commission for Human Rights, Jaroslava Mulisova reported finding her daughter locked into a caged bed.  Vera was naked, dirty, and her head had been shaven to remove head lice.  She was also in a severely dehydrated condition.  Despite complaints to the hospital and the Czech Health Ministry, Vera Musilova died in April 2006 after choking to death on her own feces.   While her parents launched a lawsuit over Vera's wrongful death, a recent Appeals Court ruling dismissed all claims against the hospital.

Although the use of caged hospital beds in the Czech Republic has spurred international outrage from the European Union, the United Nations, human rights groups such as Amnesty International, and psychiatry advocacy organizations around the world, psychiatric hospitals and clinics continue to use caged beds to restrain "problem" patients.  After author J.K. Rowling launched a campaign against use of the beds (which she condemned as "torture") in 2004, the Czech Health Ministry announced that all metal caged beds would be immediately phased out.  Despite this pledge, caged beds are still a common feature and and at least five other deaths have occurred while patients were confined to the beds.

One recent incident occurred in January of this year when a 51-year old female patient with a history of suicide attempts managed to hang herself in the cage.  Although a security camera showed continuous images of her suicide to the nurse's station, no staff member came to her aid.  According to Czech activist Michal Caletka in describing the suicide:

"She made a hole in the netting big enough to shove her head in there.    Obviously no one was watching her and as usual, nobody is responsible for it.  I don't know how long it takes to prepare a hole like that and suffocate oneself, but I believe, long enough to notice on a camera..." 

Reporting on poor treatment that he had also received as a psychiatric patient, Caletka added that patients were typically overmedicated, tied to beds, and kept in solitary confinement in cages.  He said that patients "are left there on their own most of the day.  Who cares?"

Hospital authorities have defended the use of caged beds as being "the mildest form of restraint" and that more severe methods of restraint would be used if the cages were no longer available.  While the Czech Republic has ratified multiple United Nations and European human rights banning torture, the continuing use of caged beds in treating mentally ill patients remains controversial.  Whether the latest death will lead to meaningful change remains to be seen.

For more information (PDF).

The Shocking Dr. Webster (Part 1)

 Doctor John White Webster always wanted to be remembered.  And he succeeded (if not quite the way he planned).

Born into a prominent Boston family, he graduated from Harvard Medical College in 1815.  As one of the founders of the Linnaean Society of New England, Webster served as the cabinet-keeper of the Society's collection of specimens which reinforced his fascination with biology and geology.  After traveling to Europe for further study, with postings in England and the Azores, he returned to the United States and launched himself into private medical practice in Boston.    In 1824, he was appointed as a lecturer in chemistry, mineralogy and geology at Harvard Medical College and earned a full professorship three years later.

Although  Harvard Medical College was already using the corpses of executed criminals for anatomy classes, John Webster decided to try something a little more ambitious.  Since he was already doing research into galvanic stimulation of nerves and muscles, Webster decided to replicate Giovanni Aldini's famous experiment with the corpse of an executed criminal.  With that purpose in mind, Webster took charge of the bodies of Sylvester Colson and Charles Marchant.  Both men had been prosecuted for mutiny, piracy and murder although only Colson had been hanged (Marchant committed suicide in his jail cell).   Ever the showman, Webester arranged for a public demonstration of his electrical experiments with the two corpses, including coverage from the local press. 

According to the newspaper story in the February 3, 1827 edition of the Columbian Centinel, the demonstration was definitely memorable.  Colson's body was attached to a battery with wires connected to hs mouth and urethra.  Once the current was applied, "convulsive motions ensued.  Applied to the eye, the organ opened and rolled wildly".   The reporter covering the demonstration also commmented on the various movements of Colson's legs and toes which jerked and convulsed with each electric shock.   After the graphic demonstration was finished,  Webster declared that it had been "a great success".

Despite his popularity as a medical lecturer and his eminent reputation, John  Webster experienced serious money problems as he grew older.   With four daughters to support and a lavish lifestyle, debt was a continuing problem for him but he still managed to entertain many of New England's most prominent intellectuals and writers.    He also had a reputation for macabre practical jokes.  According to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who attended one of his dinners,  Webster astonished his guests by lowering the lights and fitting a noose around his neck.   Using only a bowl of blazing chemicals for light, Webster then rolled his head forward and stuck out his tongue giving the impression that he had just been hanged.    Whatever the impression that he had on his guests, it was a strange foreshadowing of what would come next

Due to his money problems, John Webster borrowed $400.00 from his colleague, Dr. George Parkman in 1842.   A member of one of the wealthiest families in Massachusetts, Parkman was a well-known figure in Boston society who owned properties all over Boston and was widely reported to have a net worth of $500,000 (an enormous fortune in those days).   Dr. Parkman could often be seen walking the streets of Boston to collect his rents (he was too thrifty to own a horse).     Webster had trouble paying back the money he had borrowed from Parkman and even managed to borrow more a few years later.  To secure the loan, Webster mortgaged some of his personal property which included his valuable specimen collection.   Although Parkman tried to be lenient with his colleague, he was furious when he learned that Webster had borrowed money from another source with the collateral being the same specimen collection that he had already pledged to Parkman.   After George Parkman arranged with the university for the receipts to Webster's lecture series to be paid to him directly to repay the debt,  John Webster went to the Parkman home on November 23, 1849, and suggested that they meet at the Medical College that same afternoon.   Although Dr. Parkman was seen entering Webster's rooms at the Medical College later that day, he was never seen again.   Although Webster attended a dinner on the night of Parkman's disappearance with no signs of distress, he went early to his rooms on the following day. 

The disappearance of George Parkman sparked a frantic search by Boston police and the Parkman family.  Thousands of missing posters were placed across the city and Parkman's family offered an enormous reward for information.   John Webster was questioned about Parkman but all that he told them was that the missing man had left his rooms after receiving a partial payment on the loan.   On November 27, Boston police searched Webster's rooms (including the laboratories and dissecting facilities) but no incriminagting evidence turned up.   All that they could determine was the presence of  severalodd acid stains and signs that the dissecting vaults had been recently cleaned.

Police also began questioning Harvard custodian Ephraim Littlefield.   Littlefield, who would later become the star witness in John Webster's trial,  grew apprehensive when he realized that he was a suspect in Parkman's disappearance.   He told police that he had seen George Parkman enter Webster's rooms on the day of his disappearance.   Littlefield also reported that he had later found those same rooms locked from the inside when he had gone to clean them.   While there was no answer when he knocked on Webster's door, he reported that he had "heard water running" inside. 

Based on his John Webster's suspicious behaviour, Littlefield decided to investigate further.

Continue to Part 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coroner's Inquest Rules in Self-Immolation Death of "Fantastic Teacher"

A coroner's inquest has ruled the bizarre self-immolation death of Yorkshire science teacher, David Charlesworth last May to be a suicide.   Charlesworth, a 43-year old teacher at Harrogate's Rossett School  was  found in the school parking lot suffering from burns to more than 79 per cent of his body.   He had apparently set fire to himself in the early hours of May 11, 2011 and was not discovered until later.   Despite treatment by paramedics and firefighters who transported him to a nearby hospital, he died of his injuries a day later.  A can of gasoline and a pile of burned clothing were found at the scene.

The coroner's inquest was told that Mr. Charlesworth was a "fantastic teacher" who had "very high standards" and felt pressured over the grades that his students received.  He suffered from bouts of depression that often coincided with his students' A-level exams.  After seeing his family doctor for depression, he was treated with medication and referred to a mental health team in March of last year.   He was placed on a waiting list despite repeated attempts by his family doctor to investigate why he was still waiting to be assessed.

His  wife, who was pregnant at the time of his  death, testified that Mr. Charlesworth reported feeling "stuck" and that he "persisted in the feeling that as a teacher he wasn't up to standard and that he had a responsibility towards the children, their grades, and the parents of those children".    Along with his wife and two children, David Charlesworth also leaves behind stunned students and fellow teachers who paid tribute to the popular and well-regarded teacher.  A special assembly was held at the school shortly after his death.

In his ruling, Coroner Geoff Fell declared the death to be a suicide and that he would be writing to the chief executive of the North Yorkshire and the York Primary Care trust concerning Mr. Charlesworth's case and the role that delayed mental health care may have played in his death.  Although he could not say whether Mr. Charlesworth would still be alive if he had received prompt care, he added that "I can say the chances of it being so must be greatly increased".

For more information.