Dr. Death: The Serial Killer Who Killed 215 Patients | Harold Shipman
The GP that turned pain medication into a death sentence for patients who were often described as healthy right up until their sudden deaths following a doctor’s at-home appointment.
Early Life
Born on January 14th, 1946, in Nottingham, Harold Frederick Shipman was the second of three children born to their father, Harold Frederick Shipman, a lorry driver born in 1914, and their mother, Vera Shipman (née Brittan), born in 1919. The parents were devout Methodists and raised their children to follow the same religious path.
Shipman was an accomplished rugby player in his youth and was known to excel in distance running. His athletics led him to be the vice-captain of the athletics team during his final year at High Pavement Grammar School in Nottingham. He left school in 1964.
During his last years of schooling, Shipman watched as his mother, whom he was incredibly close to, battled with lung cancer. He watched as, in the later stages of her disease, doctors would stop by the home, administering a dosage of morphine to ease Vera’s pain. This continued until Vera died on the 21st of June, 1963.
The next big event in Shipman’s life was his marriage to Primrose May Oxtoby on November 5, 1966. The couple would go on to have four…
