New Clinical Genetics

www.ums.ac.uk The book details many more cases, including that of Maria Whiston – the “insulin between the toes” trial. By far the most disturbing, however, is that of the notorious Beverly Allitt. Marks gives a first-hand account of how he became involved in the Allitt case in 1991 and lends a fascinating insight into how the case against her was gradually built. The actual details of the cases and her young victims make for very disturbing reading. The fact that these heinous murders went on in a quiet DGH is quite sobering and also suggests the question: Shouldn’t insulin be a controlled drug on the ward? (Astoundingly, it didn’t even become a prescriptiononly medicine until 1998, being added to the POM register only because of widespread abuse by bodybuilders, who believed it helped build muscle bulk). It is hardly surprising that, with few exceptions, the killers in this book were all from a medical or nursing background and therefore equipped with the easy means to acquire their chosen ‘poison’ and to inject it in a lethal dose.