Motive Monday: Harold Shipman’s Prescription for Death
Dr. Harold Shipman wasn’t the type of killer you’d expect to rack up over 200 suspected victims. He didn’t stalk alleys or leave ransom notes — he made house calls.
As a trusted family GP in Hyde, England, Shipman used his medical license to quietly inject elderly patients with lethal doses of diamorphine. Most died in their homes, in what appeared to be peaceful passings. But beneath the surface was a long pattern of forged records, falsified wills, and an ego large enough to play god with the people who trusted him most.
Motive Monday asks the question: Why?
Was it about control? A need to feel powerful after witnessing his own mother die under morphine care? Was it financial — or simply the thrill of getting away with it, again and again? How do we even begin to measure motive in someone who never confessed? Drop your thoughts below.
🟩Do you believe his motive was primarily psychological, financial, or something darker entirely?
🟩How should society treat killers who use institutional power as their weapon?
🟩How many victims is too many before the system starts asking better questions?
