by Ray Black
THE PROBLEM IS TRANSFERRED
Although the problem was solved at Bexar County Hospital it was by no means the end of Genene’s killing spree. In 1982, Dr. Kathleen Holland opened a pediatrics clinic in Kerville, Texas. She hired a licensed vocational nurse by the name of Genene Jones. Within months of her starting work a number of children began to experience problems with their breathing. As all the children eventually recovered no particular significance was placed on the matter and least of all on Genene Jones.
However, when fourteen-month-old Chelsea McClellan was brought to the hospital for a regular mumps and measles injection, it was Jones who gave the first injection. This resulted in the child having an immediate seizure and she was taken to San Antonio for emergency treatment. On the way the McClellan baby went into cardiac arrest and lost its fight for life. Back at Kerville a bottle of succinylcholine, which is a powerful muscle relaxant had gone missing, and then suddenly Genene found it. The missing bottle had been filled with a saline solution which meant that someone had been using this dangerous drug under suspicious circumstances. As there had been many other babies that had suffered strange seizures under Genene’s care, Holland decided to dismiss her.
HEALTH AUTHORITY INVESTIGATES
By now the health authorities had become very perturbed about the number of deaths at both the hospitals and Genene Jones was suspended from further nursing pending a grand jury investigation. The press leaked reports that they were investigating as many as forty-two baby deaths. The grand jury finally returned indictments against Jones and she was officially charged with murder following the discovery of the drug succinylcholine in Chelsea McClellan’s body.
At her trial during January and February 1984, Genene Jones was found guilty and sentenced to ninety-nine years imprisonment. She was also tried a second time for another charge of administering an overdose of the blood-thinning drug heparin to another baby, and this time she was given a concurrent term of sixty years. The two sentences totalled one hundred and fifty-nine years, but with the possibility of parole.
Jones came up for parole after serving only ten years of her sentence, but relatives of Chelsea McClellan successfully fought to keep her behind bars, where she will remain until at least 2009, when once again she will be eligible for parole.
WHY DID SHE KILL?
Although we are unlikely to ever really know why Genene Jones killed so many babies that were entrusted to her care, the most probable answer is that she liked the excitement and the attention that it brought her. She definitely took pleasure in creating life and death dramas in which she could play an influential role, so indicating that there was a power motive. It was certain that she was suffering from Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, which means that she was getting the attention from doctors by making someone else sick. This is a form of abuse in which children are the usual victims.
Another symptom of Munchausen is that the sufferer will complain of factitious disorders, feign, exaggerate or actually self-induce illnesses. Their aim is to assume the status of ‘patient’ and thereby to win attention, nurturance and lenience that they feel unable to obtain in any other way. These are certainly all symptoms that Genene Jones showed on numerous occasions.
Nurse Beverley Allitt
The nurse who murders is always held in particular dread because they prey on someone who is at their most vulnerable and in whom they put their trust. Beverley Allitt is probably Britain’s most famous female hospital killer. She pretended to adore the children under her care but in truth she was totally indifferent to their suffering.
Beverley Gail Allitt was born on October 4, 1968 in Corby Glen, Lincolnshire. She was the second of four children born to Richard and Lillian Allitt and had a normal, happy family life. However, as a child Beverley would always seem to be suffering from some sort of illness, and would often appear wearing bandages or plasters on wounds that she would not allow anyone to examine. She suffered from an erratic temperament and would often become aggressive towards others. She would feign numerous illnesses that would be serious enough to send her to hospital, until eventually doctors realised that there was nothing wrong with her and told her parents that the child was wasting their time.
When Beverley was sixteen she showed an interest in caring for children and enrolled on a nursing course in Grantham. In 1988, when she had completed the course, she began her training at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital as a trainee nurse. When her two years training was up, Beverley successfully passed her examinations, but her attendance records showed that she had missed a total of one hundred and twenty-six days through illness. One of the sisters in the ward was concerned with the amount of time she had had off and suggested that Allitt should be offered some psychiatric help. However, none was ever offered.
Allitt was turned down for the first nursing job she applied for because they felt she had a lack of basic knowledge. She was required to work an additional ten weeks before she could be registered as a nurse, and this time would be spent on Ward 4 at Grantham Hospital.
Beverley took to nursing enthusiastically and she was determined to show the hospital just how competent she was. On February 21, 1991, the mother of seven-week-old Liam Taylor brought him in to the hospital suffering from congested lungs. He was diagnosed as having Bronchiolitis and it was suggested he spend a couple of days in Ward 4 after which time he should be well enough to go home. Liam was given an oxygen mask to help with his breathing, and immediately he started to look a lot better. His parents, Chris and Joanne, felt much happier, and it was suggested by a staff nurse that they go home and get some rest while nurse Allitt fed Liam.
It was less than two hours later that Chris and Joanne returned to the hospital, to be told that Liam had taken a turn for the worse. Nurse Allitt told them how Liam had suddenly violently vomited while she was feeding him, and had also produced yellow faeces. Liam was lying motionless in his cot and the parents immediately began to panic. A consultant was called in to examine the baby and he diagnosed that Liam had pneumonia on his lung and that the next twenty-four hours would be critical in their young infant’s life.
Chris and Joanne stayed with their son throughout the twenty-four hour ordeal. At times he would seem to improve, smiling and giggling at his parents, and the next moment his muscles would contract in pain. Just before midnight Liam went into another respiratory crisis but again he pulled through and his parents were told to go and rest. Allitt reassured the parents and said that she would watch over their child carefully. As soon as she was left alone with the baby things soon went from bad to worse. She sent two nurses out of the room to fetch some things that she needed, and one they returned they saw Allitt standing over Liam whose face was now totally ashen. Then some red blotches appeared on his face and Allitt yelled out for the crash team. They fought hard to save him and in the end Liam Taylor was only alive because of the life-support machine that was helping him breathe. He had undoubtedly suffered brain damage due to the cardiac arrest, and his parents had to make the difficult decision of allowing him to die.
As they turned off the life support machine Beverley Allitt watched emotionless, and then left for home. She returned to work that afternoon as if nothing had happened – joyous in the knowledge that she had committed murder and had got away with it.
MORE DEATHS
Within the next two months she attacked nine children and murdered four and all the while to the suffering parents she appeared to be the angel of mercy. How could it be that someone so caring on the outside could be so demented on the inside?
Two weeks after Liam Taylor died, eleven-year-old Timothy Hardwick was brought into the hospital. Tim had suffered all his life, he had Cerebral Palsy from birth, was virtually blind and had very little control over his limbs. Despite all of this he still had the ability to be happy. On March 5, Tim suffered from an epileptic fit while he was at his special needs school, and the decision was made to take the boy to Newark Hospital. After receiving a treatment of Val
ium, Tim’s body relaxed and he fell into a deep sleep. The doctors advised that Tim be allowed to stay in hospital for observation and he was left in the care of nurse Allitt. He arrived in Ward 4 at around 3.15 p.m. but by 5.00 p.m. Allitt sought help from a fellow nurse because she felt that Tim was uncomfortable. The two nurses turned Tim on his side and for a while he seemed to improve. Nurse Allitt raised the alarm forty-five minutes later because Tim had suddenly stopped breathing. When the crash team arrive his face was ashen, his lips were blue and there was no visible sign of a pulse. They tried to save his life but unfortunately it was too late and at 6.15 p.m. Tim lost his fight for life. The nursing team were totally baffled as there was no obvious reason for his sudden and unexpected death. Even an autopsy failed to provide an obvious cause for death and it was put down to the fact that he suffered from epilepsy.
Five days later Kayley Desmond entered Ward 4 at only fifteen weeks old. She was under-nourished, dehydrated and suffering from a chest infection. Once again Allitt tended to her and she appeared to be making very good progress. Kayley’s mother, Maggie, was asleep in a chair next to her daughter’s bed when Allitt called for a fellow nurse, Lynn Vowles, to come and help modify some of the medical equipment. Being careful not to wake Maggie, Lynn adjusted a drip monitor when she noticed that Kayley did not look right and that her face was exceptionally pale. She bent over and realised immediately that the child was not breathing. Lynn told Allitt to call the crash team while she carried out mouth to mouth resuscitation. They managed to revive Kayley and they were satisfied that the worst was over, putting the relapse down to a complication connected with a chest infection.
Nurse Allitt was given strict instructions to stay by her side and watch over the child, but at 4.00 p.m. the crash team were once again called into the ward to revive Kayley. She was given an injection of Aminophyline along with a heart massage and after a few minutes her pulse returned and her breathing returned to normal. Physicians were puzzled by her condition and so gave her a thorough examination. They discovered an odd puncture hole just under her armpit and near it was an air bubble. They put it down to an accidental injection, and there was no further investigation. They decided to transfer the tiny patient to Queens Medical Centre in Nottingham where she recovered fully without suffering any further attacks. The doctors there were surprised at the speed of her recovery due to the severity of her attacks, after a couple of days she seemed to be completely back to normal.
After the stress of the mystery illness of Kayley, Ward 4 were gradually returning to normal. Allitt, who was obviously upset by the lost opportunity, didn’t wait long and struck again and again, in fact a total of three times over the next four days.
With three deaths and nine suspicious incidents in a period of two months, Doctor Nelson Porter, had to admit that something was wrong on Ward 4. He requested that security cameras were placed to monitor people who went in and out of the ward, but a fellow doctor, Dr. Nanayakkara felt there was no reason for concern, and his request was ignored. While the two doctors discussed the need for extra security, Claire Peck was being admitted to the ward.
Claire was only fifteen months old and had been in and out of hospital due to breathing difficulties. The doctors attending to Claire decided it would be advisable to put a tube down her throat to help her breathe more easily and she was taken off to the treatment room to prepare her for the treatment. While waiting for the team to arrive Claire was left in the capable hands of one of the attending nurses. In the few moments they were left alone Claire started to turn blue, and she stopped breathing. A nurse returning to the treatment room immediately noticed the child’s condition and that the nurse was just standing watching her. She immediately put an oxygen mask over her face and slapped her backside to start her breathing again. A doctor was called and she was given an injection of Aminophyline and after twenty minutes she was breathing normally.
The doctor went off to inform Claire’s parents of the incident, when minutes later nurse Allitt rushed out of the treatment room saying that Claire’s had stopped breathing again. The doctor rushed back to the child, but it was too late her heart and lungs had already stopped working. They tried very hard to revive the child but in the end it was hopeless and they had to pronounce her as officially dead. The doctor concerned, Dr, Porter, could not believe that the child had died and took blood samples to try and ascertain the cause. He also took all the intravenous drips that had been used in her treatment and sent them to the laboratory for testing, this time he wanted an answer.
A science officer at the hospital laboratory, Alan Willis, informed the doctor that his results showed a very high level of potassium in the blood, in fact it was so high it was off the scale. The hospital decided it was essential that they started an investigation into the mysterious deaths that had been happening recently, but it still took more than two weeks before the police were actually called in.
The body of Claire was exhumed and further tests showed that the body contained traces of the drug lignocaine – a substance used in cardiac arrest, but never in the case of a baby. The Superintendent in charge of the case, Stuart Clifton, believed that he had a killer on his hands and he started to examine more carefully some of the other baffling cases. The results of their tests showed an unusually high dose of insulin, and he also learned that it was nurse Allitt who had reported the key missing to the refrigerator that contained the insulin. He checked all the records, talked with the parents of the victims, and interviewed all the staff that worked in Ward 4. He installed security cameras and even made a point of learning more about the psychological illness of Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome.
Detectives carefully studied the nursing log and found several pages missing, which added up to twenty-five separate suspicious events. They needed to find something they all had in common and it wasn’t long before they found it – nurse Beverley Allitt was on duty on every single occasion. Within three weeks of the investigation, they arrested her.
During her time on police bail, Allitt admitted herself to hospital. She was suffering from urinary infection which required that she be fitted with a catheter. However, the catheter broke quite mysteriously which meant she had to have a longer stay in hospital. The nurses on the ward noticed that, although she seemed quite well during the day, at night time she would complain of feeling unwell, of having a temperature and that her breasts were very painful. It was suspected that she was injecting her own breasts with water, which would cause her to have a higher than normal temperature and painful breasts.
Allitt denied that she had any part in the attacks at the hospital, and that her total aim was to care for the patients. She was certainly very nervous when she was being interviewed and when they searched her home they found parts of the missing nurses’ log.
By July 1991 the police felt that their case was sufficiently strong to charge Allitt with murder and in November of that year she was formally charged.
The trial opened on February 15, 1993 at Nottingham Crown Court. Beverley Allitt was painfully thin when she appeared in court, having lost five stone in weight as a result of anorexia. While she had been waiting for the trial she had been held in Rampton Psychiatric Hospital as it was obvious that she had a serious personality disorder. It was while she was there that she returned to an old childhood habit of hurting herself by scalding and eating pieces of broken glass. The trial itself lasted for almost two months, and for that period of time Allitt was actually too ill to attend the hearing. On May 11, 1993, the jury returned their verdict and she was subsequently charged to thirteen life sentences, four on charges of murder and nine for causing grievous bodily harm. Beverley Allitt eventually confessed in October 1993 that she had committed three of the murders and was responsible for six other attacks.
A VERY SICK GIRL
Although Beverley Allitt’s physical condition improved her mental health remained frail. She has been diagnosed as suffering from both Munchausen Syndrome and Munchausen by Proxy Synd
rome. These conditions are both serious medical conditions that can be confused with hypochondria, and is very often an overlooked or even minimized condition. With hypochondria a patient will believe they are suffering the physical symptoms of illnesses and will frequent doctors’ surgeries truly believing they are ill. Munchausen Syndrome, however, is when the patient knows that she or he is not really ill but seeks medical help in order to gain attention, attention that they feel they cannot receive in any other way. In certain cases of Munchausen Syndrome, the sufferer will even inflict harm upon themself in order to make the sickness real enough that medical attention is really required.
Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, however, is a far more dangerous form of hypochondria, whereby the afflicted person purposely inflicts harm on another person – usually their own child – once again to gain attention from the medical profession. Many children have been severely deformed, and indeed killed, because of this disorder.
The normal cause of Munchausen is severe abuse or neglect in the childhood of the sufferer. A victim might find themselves in hospital at some point, possibly for the removal of tonsils or appendix, and they find that they received better care and attention there and they did in their own home. In certain people this can release a trigger, ad the sufferer will fall into a pattern where they crave medical attention and will do whatever possible to get admitted back into hospital.
