Read Online Blind Eye: The Terrifying Story of a Doctor Who Got Away With Murder by James B. Stewart - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: James B. Stewart
Tags: General, Medical, True Crime, Political Science, Murder, Physicians, Serial Killers, Current Events, ethics
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surgeries and oral examinations, and he acquitted himself satisfactorily in his other supervised assignments.
Dean Richard Moy had taken an additional step that he believed might put others on notice that SIU had experienced problems with Swango’s performance. Every graduating medical student receives a “dean’s letter,” which reviews his or her strengths and weaknesses and is used in applications for internships, residencies, and other employment. Though another administrator usually drafted such letters, Dean Moy took a personal interest in Swango’s. It was carefully written to call attention to the fact that he had not graduated with his class, that he had failed a rotation and been required to repeat it, and that there had been concern about his professional behavior. Given the school’s anxiety about possible legal liability, this was as far as Moy felt the letter could go. He was confident that, at the least, it would cause a teaching hospital to call SIU for more explanation before admitting Swango for further training.
Yet on Match Day, March 16, 1983, Dr. William Hunt, director of the department of neurosurgery at Ohio State University in Columbus, offered Swango a residency in neurosurgery after the successful completion of a year’s internship in general surgery to begin on July 1. That year, Ohio State, one of the most prestigious residency programs in the country, had received about sixty applicants for its neurosurgery residence program and had invited twelve for personal interviews, Swango among them. He was the only studentfinally offered a position. Swango’s success seemed even more astounding than his offer from the University of Iowa had been the year before.
Michael Swango was graduated from SIU on April 12, 1983. Though there was no ceremony, he received his diploma in the mail, and Muriel spread the good news of his graduation and acceptance at Ohio State to family members. These developments lent credence to Michael’s explanation that a computer glitch had postponed his graduation. No one questioned why it would have taken nearly a year to correct such an error. Nor did Michael mention to anyone in Quincy, let alone at Ohio State, that shortly after his graduation from SIU he was fired by America Ambulance.
Already on probation there because of his violent outbursts, Swango had responded to an emergency call in Rochester, Illinois, a small town close to Springfield. The patient, gasping for air and in acute pain, was suffering a heart attack. Swango’s instructions were to administer any emergency treatment called for and then transport him in the ambulance to the nearest hospital. Instead, he made the patient walk to his own car and told the family to drive him to the hospital themselves. The patient survived, but the family called America Ambulance to complain about Swango. No one could explain his cavalier behavior. It was both medically unsound and a clear violation of the ambulance corps’ rules. Swango offered no adequate explanation and was fired.
But Michael was no doubt indifferent to his dismissal now that he had graduated from SIU. He returned to Quincy and was promptly hired as a paramedic by the Adams County Ambulance Corps. He worked there for just three months, since he had to be in Columbus, Ohio, by July 1 to begin his internship.
A NNE Ritchie first met the new blond intern on the ninth floor of Rhodes Hall, one of the largest buildings in the Ohio State medical complex. She did a double-take. She thought he was handsome, with an athletic build and angular face, a very all-American look. But what struck her most was that he looked remarkably like her cousin’s husband in Minnesota. The similarity was so pronounced that she checked the I.D. tag on his surgical jacket to see if theremight be some family relation. That was why she remembered his name: Michael Swango.
Attractive, popular, and vivacious, Ritchie was the daughter of a physician, and had always wanted
Dean Richard Moy had taken an additional step that he believed might put others on notice that SIU had experienced problems with Swango’s performance. Every graduating medical student receives a “dean’s letter,” which reviews his or her strengths and weaknesses and is used in applications for internships, residencies, and other employment. Though another administrator usually drafted such letters, Dean Moy took a personal interest in Swango’s. It was carefully written to call attention to the fact that he had not graduated with his class, that he had failed a rotation and been required to repeat it, and that there had been concern about his professional behavior. Given the school’s anxiety about possible legal liability, this was as far as Moy felt the letter could go. He was confident that, at the least, it would cause a teaching hospital to call SIU for more explanation before admitting Swango for further training.
Yet on Match Day, March 16, 1983, Dr. William Hunt, director of the department of neurosurgery at Ohio State University in Columbus, offered Swango a residency in neurosurgery after the successful completion of a year’s internship in general surgery to begin on July 1. That year, Ohio State, one of the most prestigious residency programs in the country, had received about sixty applicants for its neurosurgery residence program and had invited twelve for personal interviews, Swango among them. He was the only studentfinally offered a position. Swango’s success seemed even more astounding than his offer from the University of Iowa had been the year before.
Michael Swango was graduated from SIU on April 12, 1983. Though there was no ceremony, he received his diploma in the mail, and Muriel spread the good news of his graduation and acceptance at Ohio State to family members. These developments lent credence to Michael’s explanation that a computer glitch had postponed his graduation. No one questioned why it would have taken nearly a year to correct such an error. Nor did Michael mention to anyone in Quincy, let alone at Ohio State, that shortly after his graduation from SIU he was fired by America Ambulance.
Already on probation there because of his violent outbursts, Swango had responded to an emergency call in Rochester, Illinois, a small town close to Springfield. The patient, gasping for air and in acute pain, was suffering a heart attack. Swango’s instructions were to administer any emergency treatment called for and then transport him in the ambulance to the nearest hospital. Instead, he made the patient walk to his own car and told the family to drive him to the hospital themselves. The patient survived, but the family called America Ambulance to complain about Swango. No one could explain his cavalier behavior. It was both medically unsound and a clear violation of the ambulance corps’ rules. Swango offered no adequate explanation and was fired.
But Michael was no doubt indifferent to his dismissal now that he had graduated from SIU. He returned to Quincy and was promptly hired as a paramedic by the Adams County Ambulance Corps. He worked there for just three months, since he had to be in Columbus, Ohio, by July 1 to begin his internship.
A NNE Ritchie first met the new blond intern on the ninth floor of Rhodes Hall, one of the largest buildings in the Ohio State medical complex. She did a double-take. She thought he was handsome, with an athletic build and angular face, a very all-American look. But what struck her most was that he looked remarkably like her cousin’s husband in Minnesota. The similarity was so pronounced that she checked the I.D. tag on his surgical jacket to see if theremight be some family relation. That was why she remembered his name: Michael Swango.
Attractive, popular, and vivacious, Ritchie was the daughter of a physician, and had always wanted
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