sheshe2 brought up Arsenic and Old Lace on another thread
I've seen the movie - it was based on a true story although aspects were changed.
The story of the 'nursing home killer', a female sociopath who viewed old and/or sick people as a new stream of income is a reminder that these greedy sick people are not a new phenomenon. The doctor was even worse.
http://www.connecticutmag.com/the-connecticut-story/the-real-arsenic-and-old-lace/article_6ced1d6b-cf1f-5c97-8c82-87b83243ae5d.html
The Real ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’
Long before that, she was born Amy Duggan in Litchfield sometime between 1873 and 1887. She had a quiet upbringing, although there was evidence that her family was plagued with mental illness. She married James Archer in 1897 and they settled in Windsor, opening the Archer Home for Elderly People and Chronic Invalids in 1907. Residents would pay for room, board and any medical attention (either at a weekly rate or a flat fee of $1,000) for the remainder of their lives. They also would agree to make “Sister Amy”—who cultivated the alter ego of a Bible-thumping churchgoer to deflect suspicion—the beneficiary of their estates so she could “more easily” manage their finances once they passed.
In the first four years of the Archer Home, more than 20 residents died (a significantly higher rate than similar enterprises), most of them quite suddenly—and almost always from “mysterious” digestive tract-related maladies that would fell them in a matter of days or even hours. Amy’s husband, only 50 years old, also died unexpectedly during this time. In every case, Amy would have the deceased removed from the house and buried quickly; she claimed she didn’t want to upset other residents, but it was only to better hide her crimes.
During most of Amy’s murderous spree, Dr. Howard King was the Windsor medical examiner. He was also on the Archer Home payroll as house physician, and would quickly sign off on all deaths. From the high number of demises he certified over such a short time, apparently the pay was good enough to prevent him from asking many questions.
Also noteworthy was that Amy was purchasing arsenic, often a few days before one of her residents would “coincidentally” die. Professing that the poison—one of the most virulent available, and particularly cruel in how slow-acting it is—was to get rid of rats, she was buying nearly a pound at a time, which was more than enough to exterminate a single person.
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Unbelievable
= new reply since forum marked as read
