How many Shipmans?

WHEN the crimes of serial killer Dr Harold Shipman were discovered, there was shock.

Everyone found it difficult to believe that, in one of the most civilised countries of the world, a doctor could kill hundreds of patients without being found out.

Now, following the report into deaths at Gosport War Memorial Hospital, everyone is asking for the law to be tightened to control what is going on in hospitals.

But nothing happened then, and I expect that nothing is going to happen now.

The truth is that too many doctors consider themselves above the law and operate in the manner of the Mafia.

It is as if there is a notice at the main entrances of hospitals warning patients to ‘forget any protection from the law, you who enter this place’.

I have been the victim of doctors’ cruelty. I went to the police to complain, but was told repeatedly ‘that is not a police matter’.

I went through the hospital complaint system, only to find out that it was a sham. It is doctors sitting in judgment on other doctors, paid hefty fees for it and absolving their colleagues of any wrongdoing.

How many cases are there similar to those of Dr Shipman? DANIeL BROWN, address supplied. AFTER her retirement, my aunt lived in a care home in Hampshire. She fell and injured her shoulder, and was taken to hospital.

When I first visited her on the ward, my aunt was her usual chatty and bossy self. When I went to see her again, she was fast asleep, so I thought it was best not to wake her.

The next day, when I arrived to visit her, a nurse called me in and told me it was best to let my aunt pass away in peace. Being naive, I trusted her. A few days later, my aunt was gone.

Name and address supplied. THAT’S right: kill off the old people with morphine and save a fortune in pensions and medical care. Never mind that we’ve paid into the system all our lives.

ROBeRT DODD, Brighton, e. Sussex.