Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away with Murder

Rating:
Summary: A book for anybody that likes true crimes
Review: "Blind Eye" is a very interesting and disturbing book. There were several times throughout the book that made me think that if this guy was a doctor, and nobody suspected him, then what says that no other doctors are doing what he did. A book like "Blind Eye" makes you have second thoughts about doctors, and you shouldn't have to feel that way. A hospital is a place to save lives; not take them, and Michael Swango has probably made a lot of people feel a little queasy about that statement. Also I don't feel comfortable about Swango being released to out society. This is a man who upon his release from prison would most likely have no problem poisoning other individuals that he just doesn't like. Or even poison individuals he doesn't know, just because he can. Overall though, Stewart did an excellent job writing this book, and I would recommend this book to anybody that likes to read mystery, suspense, small thrillers, non-fiction, or true crimes. It keeps you on your toes wondering what is going to happen around the corner, and it always leaves you in a deep cliffhanger. It won't take long to read at all if you get into it, and don't have any distractions to keep you from reading.

Rating:
Summary: Worth the time to listen to, but read the book, too
Review: I was given this book to read at a hospital sponsored meeting on physician credentialing issues. The book emphasizes the need for the strict credentialing processes of the medical profession. It also emphasizes the difficulty posed to this process by the seriously personality disorder individual. The author paints with too broad a brush in his sweeping indictment of the entire medical profession in allowing the credentialing of someone like Michael Swango and in doing so misplaces the blame for his heinous acts. Michael Swango is a serial killer who poisoned people remorselessly both in and out of hospitals and would have done so with or without a medical license. The medical profession is probably better than most at identifying the personality disordered individual and protecting the public from those that pose a threat. The really disturbing thought highlighted by this book is the struggle we have with identifying the charming, intelligent psychopathic personality and getting them help prior to the commission of serious criminal acts.

Rating:
Summary: Please, God, don't let me get sick in Ohio...
Review: If this were a novel I would probably not have finished it, if I had I would have dismissed it with one star and as much sarcasm about an incompetent author I could think of. The horror is that this book documents a serial killer who killed his victims in hospitals around The United States and overseas. He killed these people, many who were his own patients, and others because they were convenient. He killed because it allowed him to act out his fantasies and because he enjoyed committing murder. And at least part of his thrill was that he knew that the system of which he was a part would go out of its way to rationalize or knowingly deny the truth. And it was this mentality that lead him from state to state killing as he went.

This book is so disturbing because of the scope and the number of parties who allowed this killer to continue to kill. If these crimes had been committed in one hospital a finger could be pointed and those responsible punished. But he worked his way through Illinois, Ohio State University Hospitals, South Dakota, New York, Zimbabwe, and finally back to the US when he was arrested. He was not arrested for murder, and at the time he was caught he was passing through to his next job in Saudi Arabia.

The string of events and the years they occupy will leave you shaking your head. This man poisoned 6 coworkers and was sent to prison, this little event did not even slow him down when pursuing his next hospital post. You will even read of at least one member of the medical community that said even with this conviction they would still hire this man. And the truth is many more than one employer did. And many of those who could have stopped this person very early on remain in their professions today, and many of them hold positions of much greater authority.

How can this happen? The observations of nurses need to be dismissed along with victims who survived this serial killer together with roommates that witnessed his actions. Those in the hospital administration need to refuse to cooperate with investigators, and they must put their potential liability ahead of the bodies this man left in his wake. The process is simple; discredit anyone who may have something damaging to say, whine about how hard it is to prove a murder when effected by a doctor, and then write endorsements and recommendations of the killer that will not raise an eyebrow with the next employer. The goal is to push the guy out of your hospital without the killer or his victims suing, and then let the next hospital deal with him.

This guy is now serving three consecutive life sentences. This number is at least several dozen short of the number he killed. That he was finally charged and convicted had precious little to do with the hospitals he worked at. From what I was able to find he was convicted of murder at a Veteran's Administration Hospital, which would find it much harder to ignore the Federal Government.

At a minimum there are a dozen or so cells that should be occupied by other doctors and a string of hospital administrators. To that group can be added some members of the boards of doctors who are supposed to discipline their own, and not a few members of congress that ensure that tracking and documenting the histories of those we entrust are lives to remain vague and poorly documented.

Rating:
Summary: Creepy to the last page...
Review: James Stewart is one of the top two or three writers whose work I have had the pleasure to read. He is meticulous in his reporting and his research is unassailable. The more I read, the more terrified I became that someone could actually "skate" through the system for so many years leaving a wake of corpses in his path. Stewart is a remarkable storyteller who can't be missed. The evil Dr. Swango comes alive in this fine work.

Rating:
Summary: A Nice Piece Of Work
Review: Like Den of Thieves, James B. Stewart has produced another well researched book, this time about Michael Swango. This is a true crime biography of a serial killer that had easy access to both the tools and victims he needed to fulfill his twisted fetish. It's a surprising journey, how just when you think he pushed his luck to far, he manages to slip through the cracks and resurface. It's an interesting read, that may startle you, and well worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Like watching a 20-year auto crash
Review: My wife started reading this first (actually it was a book on CD). She didn't know it was real. When I told her it wasn't fiction she was visibly stunned. You cannot believe what the fraternity of the medical community will do to protect its own... while this whackjob calmly knocks of dozens of people. It is an incredibly well researched, well written account of The System gone nuts. You will be scared, frustrated and educated as to How Things Really Work in medicine, colleges, etc. And you will never look at a(n unfamiliar) doctor the same. A fabulous book... 10 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Like watching a 20-year auto crash
Review: My wife started reading this first (actually it was a book on CD). She didn't know it was real. When I told her it wasn't fiction she was visibly stunned. You cannot believe what the fraternity of the medical community will do to protect its own... while this whackjob calmly knocks of dozens of people. It is an incredibly well researched, well written account of The System gone nuts. You will be scared, frustrated and educated as to How Things Really Work in medicine, colleges, etc. And you will never look at a(n unfamiliar) doctor the same. A fabulous book... 10 stars.

Rating:
Summary: Worth a Read
Review: The most important thing to keep in mind while reading this book is that its subject, Michael Swango, is a serial killer. He is an aberration. That being said, the idea of medical care professionals being killers is a nightmare that our medical system has to make even more impossible and rare.

Mr. Stewart shows how Swango was abetted by the system's clubby nature to protect its own against charges and suites, how he used the desperation of the more outlying medical facilities for doctors, and how psychopaths can charm and persuade those around them that the evidence to the contrary, their eyes are deceiving them.

This is a good read, but in some ways a very difficult one. It is interesting and compelling and yet it feels like being caught in a horrifying dream. Just as hard cases make bad law, these rare but horrible events make us want to do something, anything, in order to allow us to believe this could never happen again. But the reality is killers kill.

There are things the medical establishment could and should do in order to better weed out bad doctors, nurses, and others who staff our health care system. But to think in terms of a major restructuring in order to avoid something so extremely rare is as unrealistic as doing nothing.

The book ends with the possibility that Swango would be released a few months from the publication date. However, Swango has since pleaded guilty to four murders in order to avoid the death penalty and extradition to Zimbabwe. So, he is in prison for four consecutive life sentences. Thank heaven for that!

If this topic is interesting to you this is a very good book. But be prepared for reading about a very sick person and the horrible things he did to innocent and trusting people.

Rating:
Summary: Thank God he's in jail now!!
Review: This is the story of how a doctor convicted of poisoning 6 of his coworkers at an ambulance service managed to get job after job as a physician. And how he subsequently murdered up to 60 patients due to the incompetence, arrogance, and corruption of the medical institutions and physicians involved. The laxness of the application and interview process at some of the most prestigious institutions in the U.S. is exposed. Every single time he was suspected of foul play, the institutions involved merely fired him, without any police involvement. I was shocked that nurses, patient family members and patients themselves witnessed Swango's misdeeds, yet weren't listed to because it was their word against a physician's.

When Swango moved on to kill in small hospitals in Zimbabwe, police officials were notified almost immediately by suspicious coworkers. The contrast between the quick action of the medical establishment in bush areas of Zimbabwe and the lying and covering up of U.S. establishments was startling.

The book tries to answer the question of why Swango killed and poisoned so many people. The book really has no conclusion other than he's a psycopath, which is probably about as good as anyone can understand this.

Swango was sentenced to life in prison yesterday. This book points out there may be other Swangos out there and that's really scary.