Corruption Chronicles The Murder Curtain By Micah Morrison www Judicial Watch Investigative Reporter them easy marks for medical serial Are U.S. veterans hospitals killers. Often, patients are isolated the perfect hunting ground and vulnerable, with visits from for serial killers? That’s one of family members few and far between. the provocative suggestions in Behind the Murder Curtain, co- authored with Michael Vecchione former VA special investigator and Jerry Schmetterer, unfolds like a Bruce Sackman’s new book, police procedural, taking us through Behind the Murder Curtain. the Swango and Gilbert cases. The JUDICIAL WATCH authors make quick stops at other www Are U.S. veterans hospitals the per- cases and offer a smart program for fect hunting ground for serial killers? spotting trouble. embezzlement and fraud. That’s one of the provocative sugges- Sackman estimates that Swango, a Was Sackman out of his league? tions in former VA special investigator doctor, killed as many as 100 pa- He persisted, put together a team of Bruce Sackman’s new book, Behind tients in the United States and Africa. experts, including famed forensic the Murder Curtain. Swango began practicing medicine pathologist Michael Baden, and ul- Sackman was the special agent in in 1983 and drifted from hospital to timately was instrumental in con- charge of the VA’s Criminal Investi- hospital, dogged by reports of fraud victing Swango on multiple murder gation Division’s Northeast Field Of- and improper behavior. By 1995, he counts and sending him to Colora- fice, chasing crime from West Virgin- was at the Northport VA Medical do’s Supermax prison for the rest of ia to Maine. A maverick, he bucked Center in New York. A television his life. the system and brought two prolific news program raised questions about In a chilling image, Sackman serial killers — Michael Swango and his past. Medical personnel at North- writes that most hospital killings Kristen Gilbert — to justice. Both port were concerned. occur behind “the murder curtain” murdered veterans at VA hospitals. Sackman caught the case. But surrounding a patient’s bed. Medical “There have been plenty of hospi- he faced resistance. Allegations of records and documents “revealed a tal serial killers in the private sector killings at hospitals were largely pattern of behavior by Dr. Swango throughout history,” Sackman writes. uncharted investigative territory. at his patients’ bedsides: he entered “But it sticks in my mind that a VA The FBI considered murder on their rooms by himself, drew the medical center is a perfect hunting federal turf to be their territory, but curtains, and administered lethal ground. The VA facilities are filled had little experience with hospital injections.” with long-term care patients with se- cases. VA law enforcement usually Kristen Gilbert, a nurse at the rious debilitating illnesses,” making focused on white-collar crimes like Northampton VA Medical Center in Massachusetts, also committed her killings behind the murder curtain. It Serial killers began with the theft of epinephrine from the hospital medical cabinet. Swango used “epi,” a common drug to speed up the heart rate, in lethally high doses. Like Swango, Gilbert worked the overnight shift. “When the ward was empty of other personnel,” Sackman writes, Gilbert “would pull the bedside curtain around her. She would then inject the patient with a fatal dose of the drug.” In an atten- tion-seeking twist, Gilbert would Convicted serial killers, former nurse Kristen Gilbert and former physician Michael Swango often be on hand when the patient See MURDER page 14

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“coded” — began to go into cardiac record. The media will find out arrest and die — taking seemingly about it and sensational stories heroic measures to save her victim. will result. They are right to fear Hospital killing cases are tough that but sweeping the problem to make. In the Gilbert investiga- under the rug is not a solution.” tion, Sackman writes, “We would need to count those missing bottles A better solution, Sackman be- of epinephrine, prove that Gilbert lieves, is the adoption of what he calls had access to them, prove they “Red Flag Protocols” by nursing and were administered to the patients in medical schools to help identify pos- question and, finally, prove they died sible medical serial killers. Sackman from those injections. We had to has presented his protocols at health- paint a picture for the jury that, giv- care symposiums around the world en the opportunity and the resourc- and outlines them in the book: es, Kristen Gilbert would draw the curtain around her patient, and for l Is there an increased rate of the thrill and glory, administer a dose patient deaths connected to the Behind the Murder Curtain by Bruce Sackman, of fatal poison.” Michael Vecchione and Jerry Schmetterer suspect? In 2001, a Massachusetts jury convicted Gilbert of killing four vet- l Does he (or she) work a late-night erans. She’s serving four consecutive but the administration conducted shift and frequently is alone with life terms. a very superficial investigation and patients? Nurses are Sackman’s heroes, on then dismissed the complaining the front lines of patient care night nurses as paranoid,” Sackman writes. l Is the patient’s death unexpected and day. Three concerned nurses at “This was a pattern I would see and attributed to a “catch-all like the Northampton VA first raised the often…. Hospital brass never wanted cardiac arrest?” alarm about Gilbert — a tough call to hear bad news about their doctors. to make about a colleague in the Too often, they were willing to cover l Are “sudden-death” chemicals tight world of medical personnel. up in order to save face.” available on the ward? Nurses also first raised the alarm Sackman retired from the VA in about healthy patients dying under 2005 and works as a private investi- l Do colleagues have concerns Swango’s care. Early in Swango’s ca- gator and consultant, specializing in about the suspect? reer, “nurses reported their concerns, health care matters. (He’s also pres- ident of the Society of Professional l Was the suspect with the patient Investigators, where I am a member.) before the patient’s death? www Suspicious hospital deaths, he writes, are “a problem that afflicts every type l Do records of prior employment Hospital managers have a of hospital, public or private.” show questionable incidents? well-documented history of defending employees Sackman notes: l Does an initial review by manage- suspected of intentionally ment find insufficient evidence to “Hospital managers have a proceed? harming patients. They are well-documented history of afraid that bad publicity defending employees suspected Those are some of the questions and potential lawsuits will of intentionally harming patients. raised by Sackman’s Red Flag Proto- They are afraid that bad publicity cols. “Most importantly,” Sackman follow formal investigations, and potential lawsuits will follow writes, “hospital brass must listen especially if conducted by formal investigations, especially to their staff when allegations are outside authorities like a if conducted by outside authori- made.” Michael Swango, Kristen Gil- district attorney.” ties like a district attorney. When bert and others, he notes, “were left the police or DA get involved, a free to kill even after hospital brass www record of their activity is a public was warned.”

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