He was a talented pianist and spent many evenings playing classical music for his mother. It was weird, Rosenthal thought. "Swangoing," the noun, or "to Swango," the verb, described the practice of racing into the hall and cramming between tests.Swango was notorious not only for his test-taking regimen. The sentencing judge ordered that Swango not be allowed to prepare or deliver food, or have any involvement in preparing or distributing drugs. Again, his patients began dying mysteriously. Still, competition for internships and residencies is intense. He should have been asleep. Federal inmates must serve at least 85 percent of their sentences before being eligible for time off with good behavior, meaning that they likely had only three years to prove Swango was indeed a murderer. With patients, he sometimes used poisons as well, but usually, he administered an overdose of whichever drug the patient had been prescribed, or wrote unnecessary prescriptions for dangerous drugs. Stewart began investigating. Later, it emerged that OSU officials feared that Swango would sue if he were fired without cause, and resolved to get him away from the hospital as soon as possible after his internship ended. [14] In his book Blind Eye, Quincy native James B. Stewart estimated that counting the suspicious deaths at SIU, circumstantial evidence links Swango to 35 suspicious deaths. "But finally, in the person of a faculty neurosurgeon, Dr. Lyle Wacaser, Swango seemed to find a kindred spirit. Swango had a girlfriend before Kinney, Rita Dumas, who defended Michael. He is a member of famous Killer with the age 68 years old group. Well, Cashman said, Swango was a medical doctor suspected by the FBI of killing at least 60 patients. He assumed the felony conviction would end Swango's medical career. Grand Forks Herald 'Double-O Swango': What happened to Dr. Michael Swango, who left trail of dead patients in Midwest, elsewhere. Many of his classmates had been antiwar protesters. Each test covered a curricular "module," such as heart murmurs, within one of the core topics, such as the heart. The pair ended up giving their presentation in two discrete sections, which might as well have been separate reports. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. Swango's classmate Rosenthal noticed that Swango seemed unusually interested in, even preoccupied with, the sickest patients. Despite an impressive academic record during the first two years, he started to spend more time with dying patients in the third year, many of whom suffered life-threatening emergencies, with at least five dying. Biography. But Swango didn't drink alcohol and, despite his close relationship to Wacaser, never attended the parties. Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations. Though most students sharing a neurosurgery specialty would observe each other's surgeries, Sweeney stayed away from Swango's he was horrified by the prospect of what he might see and Swango never showed up at Sweeney's, either.Zawodniak, though he was genial and friendly, also developed an aversion to Swango. Most people who become doctors do so to help people, but not Joseph MIchael Swango, born on October 21, 1954 in Tacoma, Washington. The sentencing judge ordered that Swango not be allowed to prepare or deliver food, or have any involvement in preparing or distributing drugs. But the facts gathered by Stewart are compelling. Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. They feared that if they could not find enough evidence to convict Swango, he was likely to kill again. He forged a fact sheet from the Illinois Department of Corrections that falsified his criminal record, stating that he had been convicted of a misdemeanor for getting into a fistfight with a co-worker and received six months in prison, rather than the five years for felony poisoning that he served. That summer, he enlisted in the Marines, and didn't return for his junior year. See full bio Born: August 26, 1914 in Quincy, Illinois, USA Died: January 29, 1982 (age 67) in Quincy, Illinois, USA Hide all | | Edit Filmography After being formally indicted on July 17, 2000, he pleaded not guilty; however, on September 6, he pleaded guilty to murder and fraud charges to avoid death penalty in New York and extradition to Zimbabwe. [He]persuasively dissects the medical establishment. Once again, his patients began dying for no explicable reason. Search above to list available cemeteries. ; Stony Brook, N.Y.; and the rural regions of Zimbabwe. A flurry of articles in The Quincy Herald-Whig, the local newspaper, memorialized his achievements. Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. Best of 2022 Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Top 250 TV Shows Most Popular TV Shows Most Popular Video Games Most Popular Music Videos Most Popular Podcasts. Previous page of related Sponsored Products. Michael Swango has been featured on the American crime show Unsolved Mysteries, the Oxygen series It Takes a Killer, and the National Geographic Channel episode Angel of Death. , Simon & Schuster; First Printing edition (June 15, 2000), Language He saw no action overseas and received an honorable discharge in 1976. Standing in a remote field in Zimbabwe with a man who had survived what some medical professionals thought was suspicious treatment at Swango's hands, it occurred to Stewart that it "could not be coincidence" that the man "would tell substantially the same story as (another Swango patient), a woman he had never met or heard of, who spoke a different language, and who lived a hemisphere away" in America. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. Thomesen's conversation focused on Swango lying on his government application to work at the VA, where he prescribed narcotic medications. Michael was the second of Muriel and John Virgil Swango's three sons. Something went wrong. Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them. On August 23, 1985, Swango was convicted of aggravated battery for poisoning co-workers. [2], Although the FBI, the VA, and prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York were convinced Swango was a serial killer, they knew it would be difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. That was Swango's first official step on the path to becoming a physician. Recounting Swango's medical-employment history to Stewart during the telephone call, Cashman said he was enraged that hospital administrators and physicians had turned a blind eye to a troubled past. Indeed, after Swango's surgery rotation ended, Wacaser hardly ever saw him, and later realized that he knew nothing about Swango's background or personal life, even who his parents were or whether they were alive.During their third year at SIU medical school, students have significantly more contact with patients and are responsible for hundreds of H & P's in the course of the year. He had suspected that sudden deaths of some patients were due to Swango, but had no proof at that stage. . Michael Swango was born on October 21, 1954 in Tacoma, Washington, USA. Not for the faint-hearted. Neurosurgery, involving delicate operations on the brain and other parts of the nervous system, is one of medicine's most demanding (and highly paid) specialties. [2] Following his graduation, Swango went to medical school at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (SIU). [He]persuasively dissects the medical establishment. He is a regular contributor to. The public outcry resulted in Cohen and Miller being forced to resign before the end of the year. There was an error deleting this problem. Millikin's music department was highly regarded in Illinois, and was considered the school's strongest department.As he had in high school, Swango excelled academically at Millikin, earning nearly perfect grades during his first two years. Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). Swango's classmate Rosenthal, despite good grades in his science classes at highly regarded Knox College and decent scores on the MCAT, had been rejected outright by sixteen schools before securing a place on SIU's waiting list. He lives in New York. Demand for doctors was so strong that lucrative careers awaited med school graduates. In the meantime, Swango had sensed that the net was closing in on him. He attended Millikin University in Decatur, where he did well academically. Born on 26 Aug 1914. During the episode, I made a few errors that I would like to correct here. When a friend asked him about this, he said he planned to join the military and was fascinated by guns. With the prodigious investigative reporting that has defined his Pulitzer Prizewinning career, James B. Stewart has tracked down survivors, relatives of victims, and shaken coworkers to unearth the evidence that may finally lead to Swangos conviction. The hospital maintained a large blackboard on which were written patient names and treatment remarks. When Effie Walls, a kindly patient whom Rosenthal had met, and whom Swango had been treating for an injury, died suddenly after a visit from Swango, he scrawled "DIED" over her name as well. On August 23, 1985, Swango was convicted of aggravated battery for poisoning co-workers. His mother clipped the articles and circulated them among relatives. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. As manager of this memorial you can add or update the memorial using the Edit button below. The city is attractive to SIU because its two hospitals, St. John's and Memorial, are much larger than any in Carbondale, and it is there that SIU medical students gain their first clinical experience. He subsequently fled to Zambia, and then to Namibia, and in 1997, sought a job at the Royal Hospital in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia with forged documents. He died on January 29, 1982 in Quincy, Illinois, USA. Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 66 years old? His fascination with death led him to poison colleagues and kill patients wherever he worked. Please try again later. That is incorrect. [2], In the meantime, Swango had sensed that the net was closing in on him. (Richard Kerkering, Muriel's son from a previous marriage, lived with his father.) He graduated summa cum laude in 1979 and won the American Chemical Society's award for academic excellence.Competition for admission to any accredited American medical school in the spring of 1979 was intense, as it had been ever since the baby boom generation began graduating from college in the late sixties and applying in droves to professional schools. John Virgil Swangofamily tree Parents John Harvey Swango 1881- 1962 Ada Alma Hamilton 1889- 1969 Spouse(s) Muriel Dorothy Strubhart 1920- 1999 Wrong John Virgil Swango? His fellow students were dumbfounded, and some were disgruntled. In July 1992, he began working at Sanford USD Medical Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. You have chosen this person to be their own family member. He was sentenced in 2000 to three consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole, and is serving that sentence at the ADX Florence supermax prison near Florence, Colorado. A fascination with dying patients was observed during this time. According to Stewart, Swango could be released next year, when he is 46. U.S. participation in the Vietnam War, and the drafting of over six hundred thousand Americans, divided the country and led to a tumultuous 1960s, which resonated on TCUs campus. Judge Jacob Mishler sentenced him to three consecutive life terms, which he is serving at ADX Florence near Florence, Colorado. Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web. The author did a very good job but the story can get tiresome. The sedative caused him to lapse into a coma, and Harris died on November 9, 1993. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. His work in a hospital as an orderly would also have worked in his favor. Summers are hot and steamy, and in June 1979, most of the students and faculty members at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale who could get away after graduation had fled, leaving the campus feeling sleepy and underpopulated. Muriel Swango. In his new book, "Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away With Murder," Stewart traces Swango's career step by step, from Southern Illinois University Medical School to Ohio State University Hospitals to medical-care positions in Quincy; Newport News, Va.; Sioux Falls, S.D. However, his residency offer was cancelled in June 1984, which prompted him to take up the job of an emergency medical technician with the Adams County Ambulance Corps in Quincy a month later. Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. But the population of such students had been dwindling. [2], Faced with hard evidence of his fraudulent activities and the possibility of an extended inquiry into his time in Zimbabwe, Swango pleaded guilty to defrauding the government in March 1998. Add to your scrapbook. He later graduated summa cum laude from the University, and was awarded the American Chemical Society Award. Concerned colleagues quickly raise red flags of alarm, particularly nurses, but these issues are often dismissed, discounted or not investigated. He took the usual precollege course load, but the only topic in which he seemed to show unusual interest was the Holocaust, which was covered in world history. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations. He enrolled in pre-med courses at the local community college and had no difficulty gaining admission to Quincy College for the following fall. [2] The FBI obtained a warrant charging Swango with using fraudulent credentials to gain entry to a Veterans Affairs hospital.[11]. He was found to have faked checkups during his OB/GYN rotation one month before graduation, but was saved from being expelled by one vote. As some classmates described it, it was as though he had done his dissection using a chain saw rather than a scalpel. Joseph Michael Swango aka Michael Kirk (born October 21, 1954) is an American serial killer, and formerly a licenced physician who admitted to the killing of 4 individuals, however it is estimated his body count runs to sixty patients, and colleagues. But after his apparently trouble-free military service, Swango seemed to be doing fine. In a further reflection of his newfound interest in medicine, he worked part-time as an orderly at Blessing Hospital in Quincy and became a certified emergency medical technician.During his senior year, Swango wrote a paper, evidently his senior thesis in chemistry, on the poisoning murder of a prize-winning Bulgarian writer living in exile in London. Eventually, the school allowed him to graduate one year after his entering classmates, on condition that he repeat the OB/GYN rotation and complete several assignments in other specialties. Jerome E. Groopman The Wall Street Journal Stewart tells a riveting tale of terror, a true page-turner. In the process, he exposes the arrogance and the fraudulent professional courtesies that allowed Swango to move ahead unchallenged. (Richard Kerkering, Muriel's son from a previous marriage, lived with his father.) It seemed Swango always had an explanation, an excuse for the deaths on his watch. In March 1997, he applied for a job at the Royal Hospital in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, using a false rsum. Please try again. Hola a todos, yo soy Fernando Huerta, el da de hoy como Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and Amazon Prime. : [7] In both cases, Swango forged several legal documents that he used to reestablish himself as a physician and respected member of society. This is a carousel with slides. He was immediately fired. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Knowing that he would likely face the death penalty for his crimes in Zimbabwe, Swango began talks for a plea agreement. This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Perhaps Swango knew how to cover his tracks in the places he practiced, or maybe the authorities investigating him are inept--or possibly he is not guilty, and his career has been haunted by deadly circumstance after deadly circumstance. 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