Australian Penthouse

Forensic psychiatrist and author, Dr Robert M. Kaplan, reveals the truth about ‘clinicide’, psychotic doctors, and his life as a hermit. By Kate Hutchinson

Tell us a little about your new book, Medical Murder.
The book is a study of doctors who commit clinicide; their motivations, their secrets, and their justifications. I’ve tried to examine why these healers spend years learning and practising the techniques of preserving life, only to use their medical skills in torture, genocide, or just plain murder.

What exactly is clinicide?
Clinicide refers to the unnatural death of multiple patients in the course of treatment. I needed an overarching term to describe the phenomenon that I was writing about. When most of my colleagues, family and dwindling circle of friends rejected the title, I knew I was onto something.

Is there a specific era in history that featured the most medical murders?
The unhappy news is that this era is probably right now, and the immediate future. As the population of patients and doctors increases, it is inevitable that the very small percentage of such a group who could be killers—of any kind—will increase.

Do these killers have any psychological traits in common?
Murderous instincts are an inevitable feature of human nature. The recurrent theme of this book is that the medical profession has a sacred mandate to heal and, just as you can get firemen who light fires, you get a few—a very few—doctors who pervert this instinct.

It comes down to the doctors having a psychopathic personality, and obviously a disturbed mind. The abuse and perversion of the power over life and death must be a key factor. Some doctors may flourish in this setting to such an extent that, when viewed objectively, their mastery is more intended to enhance their own sense of power, rather than assist their patients.

Where did you source your information for Medical Murder?
I am a hermit. A lifetime of acquiring useless information in all sorts of areas eventually proved to be of some help. I had to make an extraordinary effort, looking up old journals, out-of-print books and news clippings.

Having the social instincts of a hermit is definitely a good asset for this sort of activity, and I’m pleased to discard the
barrel and emerge, blinking, into the sunlight…

Medical Murder by Dr Kaplan (Allen & Unwin, RRP$35.00) is available now in bookstores nationally.

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