Answer:
Homicidal Poisoning: Angels of Death
1. Explain why it is difficult to know exactly how many people are poisoned.
Most of the deaths are classified as natural.
2. According to the article, which poison is often chosen by murderers and why?
Arsenic the is poison often chose by murders because it's readily available and tasteless.
3. Who are “angels of death” and how do they frequently avoid being discovered?
They are the hospital patients who are elderly, or already ill. They avoid being discovered because the death of an old or gravely ill patient is by definition, a natural death.
4. Explain how Donald Harvey was eventually caught.
By him poisoning John Powell who was recovering from a motorcycle accident. Victims of fatal traffic accidents must be autopsied, under Ohio law. Forensic Pathologist ordered toxicology tests that revealed John had died from a lethal dose of cyanide. Mr. Harvey was the last person to see John alive, and John would be the last person Mr. Harvey killed.
5. Despite being accused and convicted of previous poisonings, how did Michael Swango continue to work in the healthcare industry? Who eventually helped put an end to Swango’s crimes?
Michael continued to work in the healthcare industry by five of his co-workers at the children's hospital getting sick after eating fast food, bought by Michael. The hospital conducted an internal investigation that cleared Michael of the wrongdoing. FBI agents arrested Michael for forging document that had led to his employment at a VA hospital in Long Island.
6. Why was the Elfren Saldivar case an embarrassment for law enforcement officials?
Because the police had not done their homework prior to the interrogation, the detectives had missed an opportunity. They had to arrest Elfren without probable cause, or release him when he just admitted to killing fifty people. They ended up letting him go.
7. Why don’t cases that involve “angels of death” tend to make bigger headlines in the news?
The cases didn't make the news because there was no money, blood, and no glamour. The victims were either old and/or sick.
Picking the Poison: The Story of Forensic Medicine
1. Discuss why arsenic was called the “inheritance powder”.
Because so many people used it to get to the fortune they couldn't wait for anymore.
2. Who were Charles Norris and Alexander Gettler and how did they change the field of forensic science?
Charles was the first chief medical examiner in New York City. He wanted to change the criminal justice system. He believed that there could not be good criminal detection unless it marched hand in hand with good science. Alexander Gettler was the father of toxicology.
3. Who were the Radium Girls and how did they die?
The Radium girls painted their watch dials. After a couple of years of them painting their watch dials, they started dying in bizarre and mysterious ways. Their jaws literally crumbled.
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