The Secretly Cruel and Selfish Side of Caregivers
Glimpses into hell.
Welcome into the tragic, covert universe of abusing cancer patients for sympathy and profit.
By: Elizabeth Wieck (A Cancer and Abuse Survivor)
I explore the secretly cruel and selfish sides of caregivers, and those that abuse cancer patients.
As a cancer and patient abuse survivor myself, I investigate and aim a small lantern into the vast, hidden realms of devastating abuse by caregivers, both domestic and professional. These abuses too often end with lifelong physical or mental traumas, or death by accident, suicide, or murder of the patient.
I introduce you to a dark, shocking world.
Many Americans think of October as a month to put up Halloween decorations of bats and zombies and spiderwebs, and also as the gentle transition from summer to fall to the first chills of winter.
October is also the Awareness Month for domestic violence and breast cancer. And really — you should not only be concerned with breast cancer, but any cancer.
“Domestic Violence” is also called “Intimate Partner Violence”.
A Look Inside the Secret Cruelty: Who is the Victim? What is the Abuse?
Annually in America, an estimated 200,000 disabled individuals, including those struggling with cancer, will experience violence and abuse.
The abuses can be committed on any sex or gender, any sexual orientation, and in any type of intimate relationship. The abuses can be physical violence, but also are just as often varied forms mental, emotional, and medical violence. Usually the abuses are combined on multiple levels.
Violence means abuse.
Anyone can be a victim. And abuses don’t always show to outside observers. Those close to the abuser — such as the abuser’s friends, co-workers, or family members — may not even know that person is an abuser. Or they may know — and may defend, glance the other way, ignore facts, or make excuses for the abuser.
Making excuses for an abuser is unacceptable and only further harms the victim.
Cancer is a despicable group of diseases. And those that abuse cancer patients are equally despicable. Cancer is always potentially deadly. And those that abuse cancer patients are equally potentially harmful and deadly.
Madison Brock (LCSW, MSSW) states: “Abuse affects all races, ages, educational levels, socio-economic classes, genders, and sexual orientations. Domestic violence describes emotional, psychological, sexual, or physical abuse by an intimate partner. These abusive behaviors are aimed at maintaining power and control over a partner, and may be hard to recognize at the beginning of a relationship.”
Abusive conduct already present will frequently increase as the relationship progresses.
Caregiver or Abuser? Can You Spot the Devil Hiding Behind the Face of an Angel?
Abuse can grow and magnify through the course of major episodes in life, especially when dependence and the needs of assistance from a significant other also expands. The diagnosis of cancer is a prime example.
And if that abuser is also the caregiver, the care becomes mixed with abuse. Often care stops or never exists altogether, and is replaced with abuse.
The “We’re Open” Sign for Abuse
The majority of perpetrators of these offenses are paid or family caregivers. Large numbers of people with disabilities require assistance from a variety of caregivers, and violence or abuse often takes place within these caregiving relationships.
Often spouses, partners, family members, and other types of significant others become the primary caregiver. This can intensify and intertwine the participation of the “caregiver” in the patient’s medical, physical, emotional, and financial needs.
This creates an open window for myriads of abuses. And ties the victim to the abuser even more.
Many times the cancer patient becomes isolated. This empowers the abuser to commit domestic mistreatment, violence, and atrocities in private. Many times the abuser will purposely isolate the cancer patient, or increase isolation. This restricts the cancer patient’s mobility, freedom, communication, and knowledge of the real outside world. It can be like putting a mouse in a cage with a snake.
Gaslighting, deception, distortions, and coverup by the abuser are not uncommon — perpetrated towards the cancer patient, and of course also towards those that know the cancer patient and/or the abuser. Lies and alibis lay usually necessary to avoid detection.
Cancer patient abusers can put on the face of an angel — while they exist in reality a secretly cruel and toxic person.
Abuses can cross into criminality.
How Abuse Creates a Monster of a Nightmare for Cancer Patients
Abuse impacts both treatment decision-making and health outcomes, as found in a meta-analysis by Wendy A. Johnson (MSN, RN, PhD) and Huibrie C. Pieters (PhD, RN).
A woman noted that the delay of her mammogram screening was directly caused by the abuse she was experiencing, in one study by E. M. Sawin.
The detelerious effects of this abuse may make cancer worse.
In one study of breast cancer patients, the 54% who were identified as experiencing intimate partner violence where twice as likely to develop estrogen receptor negative ER- and/or progesterone receptor negative PR- tumor receptors compared with those cancer participants not suffering from abuse.
Compared with breast cancer survivors who were not abused, those suffering intimate partner violence also had fewer surgeries and hormone therapy treatments as a first course of treatment.
Examples like these illustrate that it can be difficult for those on the outside to determine whether the victims symptoms are owed to the cancer treatment or to the abuse they are experiencing.
When the Caregiving Facade Breaks
Madison Brock (LCSW, MSSW) sounds the alarm and emphasizes there are red flags to watch for.
The abusive caregiver may:
- Respond to the patient’s cancer diagnosis in a self-centered, minimizing or even dismissive way (e.g., they focus on how the diagnosis is affecting them and look for sympathy from others).
- Not acknowledge the patient’s fatigue and/or increased need for rest. The caregiver may purposefully wake the patient from naps, prevent resting and/or assume that patient can resume normal household chores before fully recovering from treatment.
- Make negative comments about changes in the patient’s appearance during treatment and/or after surgery.
- Force the patient to consent to a treatment that is not wanted or deny treatment that is wanted/needed.
- Deprive the patient of medications or communication devices.
- Use the cancer diagnosis as a reason to prevent the patient from interacting with loved ones.
- Exclude the patient in financial decisions that relate directly to the patient’s income.
For example, in one case an abusive partner removed a woman suffering from cervical cancer from the hospital because he did not agree with the treatment plan recommended by her doctors.
In another instance, a woman diagnosed with metastatic hepatocellular was denied food, water, and an ambulance by her abusive partner. The abusive partner noted to others that “the patient was not dying fast enough to benefit the family.”
Madison Brock (LCSW, MSSW) adds: “If some of the examples above sound familiar to your relationship, know that you are not alone — and that you are not to blame. There is never an excuse for abuse. No one deserves to be in a relationship where their emotional and physical safety is in danger.”
Cancer Patient Abuse for Profit
Many have seen “Go Fund Me” pages and the like for selfish people and criminals who fake having cancer. Some criminals do not need to fake cancer, they just require finding a real cancer patient and faking being their caretaker.
Abuse can also involve the abuser trying to use the cancer patient’s diagnosis to deceptively steal money from charities and financial donors.
Sometimes the abuser will fabricate details of the patient’s cancer or treatment, to suit the abuser’s own needs, goals, and frauds.
In Denver, Colorado, Sandy Nguyen faked a cancer diagnosis for her six year-old son in 2012. She shaved his head everyday, lied about his so-called medical procedures, and posted elaborate claims on Facebook about how stressful it was to raise a sick child.
Sandy Nguyen raised $23,000 for her son’s supposed treatment costs, but the entire time, she had been lying about her son’s illness. Police say she spent $16,000 of that ill-gotten money to go to Disneyland. In 2014, she was convicted of felony theft charges.
“Abhorrent and Reprehensible“ Sexual Abuse on Cancer Patients by Caregivers and Doctors
In Toronto, Canada oncologist Theepa Sundaralingam, in January 2019, lost her medical license for having sex multiple times over seven months with her “emotionally exposed” cancer patient on his hospital bed. She went as far as to follow her patient to a different medical facility when he left the hospital at which she worked and treated him, and she engaged in continued sexual contact at the new location.
The cancer patient was enduring an extremely vulnerable life-and-death episode, and was left in a worse emotional, psychological, and physical state.
The oncologist’s professional misconduct was judged “sexual abuse and disgraceful, dishonorable”.
Ontario law dictates punishment for doctors found guilty of having sex with their patients, and after a disciplinary hearing, she had her medical license revoked.
The cancer doctor was ordered to pay $16,000 to cover the cancer patient’s therapy costs, concerning mental trauma from the abuse.
The female doctor began sexually abusing her male patient in 2015, after she diagnosed him with cancer.
Very quickly, the cancer doctor sent her patient flirtatious texts which evolved into hugging then kissing in person during cancer treatments and medical visits, and phone sex afterwards. Eventually, the oncologist masturbated and had sex with the patient in his hospital bed. The oncologist once arrived at the hospital after she had been drinking.
She implored her cancer patient to delete evidence.
However, before his cancer treatment was completed and he was well, the sexual affair with his oncologist abruptly ended. After having sex with her patient one final time, the doctor divulged she was in love with another colleague and was having sex with them, too. But the oncologist not only cut off the sexual affair with her patient, she refused to continue his cancer treatments. This left the patient devastated and in turmoil on multiple levels.
The cancer patient made a victim impact statement, revealing the sexual affair had been a “traumatic experience” and that “it’s difficult for me to talk to anybody about it…”
The cancer patient continued: “I feel abused, and it’s very difficult as a male to come out and say that about a female. It’s usually the other way around. I was physically emaciated and emotionally exposed… What compounded this toll was her refusal to continue providing medical care at the same time. … I couldn’t see how vulnerable I was and how much power she had over me.”
After the investigation and during the hearing in January 2019 at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, the chair of the medical disciplinary panel John Langs rebuked her: “From virtually the beginning of your doctor-patient relationship, you crossed boundaries and ultimately sexually abused an extremely vulnerable patient suffering from a life-threatening illness. The committee can only hope that this process prompts you to undergo a long, hard searching self-examination of what lies behind your abusive and abhorrent behavior.”
The disciplinary panel further made a written statement to the former oncologist: “You were responsible for your patient’s health, care and support, but instead you took advantage for your own personal satisfaction. You then withdrew that support for your own personal preference at a time when your patient was at his lowest point. You have disgraced yourself and the profession.”
Another panel member added: “Your actions are abhorrent and reprehensible. Even if revocation was not mandatory, the committee would have made such an order.”
Caregiver or Sociopath?
Abuse can grow exponentially more dangerous, even deadly, when the abuser is mentally ill, or is a high-functioning sociopath.
Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another (FDIA), also called Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSbP), is a condition in which a caregiver creates the appearance of health problems in another person, or makes or keeps a patient sick, or extends their illness by preventing or interfering with proper treatment, or by other means uses a patient’s illness to serve the mentally ill caregiver’s own personal desires for attention, sympathy, respect, gain, or interaction with others under a medical umbrella. They use and abuse a patient to receive regard for themselves. They are dangerously fascinated with the medical field and the attention of medical professionals.
Those afflicted with FDIA want to perpetuate the medical relationship. The abuse is not random, but systematic.
Permanent injury or death may occur as a result.
This is usually perpetrated under the guise of “sincerely” helping and caring for the patient — where the “sincerity” is really the knife in the victim-patient’s back. This is one of the worst varieties of abuse, and usually this type of abuser is extraordinarily cunning. It can take an exceptionally long time for an abuser with Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another / Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy to be caught — let alone diagnosed with their own mental illness. Many times they are never found out, and this type of abuser continues harming patients.
Too often, this kind of pathological abuser actually receives praise for their handiwork — their chicanery can be that well-crafted — and observers unfortunately equally naive or simply unfamiliar with the pathological psychology.
Some aspects of FDIA may represent criminal behavior. Some behaviors turn deadly.
Truly Horrific Abuses — The Ordinary-Looking Hospital Nurse Who Is Germany’s Most Successful Serial Killer
Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another / Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy is a little-studied and understood mental illness, but one that has afflicted several of the best serial killers hidden in plain sight — as hospital nurses.
One German nurse, Niels Högel (Hoegel), murdered at least 87 patients, between 2000 and 2005. The nurse induced cardiac arrest in his patients so he could try to resuscitate them — and receive false honors and congratulations.
The German nurse preferred to generate cardiac arrests in his patients by injecting his hospital victims with overdoses of heart medication and other drugs — because he enjoyed the exhilarating feeling of resuscitating them under emergency. Sometimes the killer-nurse succeeded in bringing them back to life — however, in at least 87 cases — they died.
A former colleague explained to the German newspaper Bild that others nicknamed the nurse “Resuscitation Rambo” because he energetically, if a bit roughly “pushed everyone else aside” when patients needed to be revived from cardiac arrest.
Police believe the nurse may have murdered far more than 100 patients, but the cremation of bodies destroyed in most deaths any possible evidence.
Presiding judge Sebastian Buerhmann described the nurse’s unrestrained murder binge to impress hospital coworkers as “incomprehensible”.
The horrendous killing spree was only stopped when the killer-nurse was caught in the act of administering unprescribed medication to a patient in 2005.
A cruel gamble for attention and praise — that spanned 5 years and hundreds of lives. He was recently convicted and a given life prison sentence.
The German nurse averaged approximately 1 attempted murder (or as the nurse saw it “saving a life”) every few days, and 2 murders per month.
These hospital patient murders make him modern-Germany’s most prolific serial killer.
University Professor as Cancer Patient Abuser, Charity Thief, and Paradoxical Teacher of “Caregiving”
In America, a high-level professor (former director of Medical Humanities curriculum for the Morsani College of Medicine and former assistant dean of the Judy Genshaft Honors College at the University of South Florida) made-up caretaking for a cancer patient in order to falsify and reap advantages in winning academic and grant applications — and similar to the German nurse-serial killer, to receive respect from colleagues. The USF professor for decades lied to administration and staff of several universities and organizations, in attempts to steal funds from charities and receive professional credit and jobs.
This University of South Florida professor abused a cancer patient for years and impeded their proper treatment, as the cancer was growing, until the victim almost died.
The cancer patient is an orphan, without a protective support system. The abuser easily isolated the victim, and isolation enabled the abuser’s near-deadly secrets.
When the victim, after several years of impinging by the abuser, was finally able to receive chemotherapy, the abuser continued to hinder their recovery.
The cancer patient repeatedly told their abuser pleading statements as: “Please stop,” “You are the most decietful and DEADLY person I know,” and “You’re killing me.”
The abuser would respond with counter-statements such as: “then you basically accusing me of lying about sending the medical records pissed me off, even though i know the only reason you doubt me is because of my past lying. but i hope you know me well enough that i would not fuck around with your health. i have NEVER done anything malicious against you.” (sic, excerpt from abuser’s text messages)
On several occasions, the cancer patient was mere hours from death, until emergency doctors intervened, sometimes at 2 AM in the morning.
For cover-up and personal profit, the university professor simply created fabricated stories of tirelessly caring for the cancer patient, even lying about “paying their medical bills” until the fake-caregiver was in “debt” — and no one at the universities or charities ever contacted the real cancer patient to check for the truth.
After stealing $3,000 from one charity, using the cancer patient caretaker lie (promising to use the free money to pay cancer bills — she called it a “gift from God”), she went on several vacations, including to the Blue Ridge Mountains and to a Caribbean island.
Because of the abuser’s years-long gaslighting and multiple detrimental interferences, the real cancer patient lost his home, couldn’t finish his cancer treatments and chemotherapy, for months had to sleep on the floor of an acquaintance’s office without running water or a toilet or bathing facilities, and now endures PTSD.
The cancer patient also fears a relapse of cancer, because of incomplete cancer treatment.
The victim wakes up several times each night with nightmares of the abuse they suffered. The university professor enjoys a successful career decorated with self-promoted exaggerations, and won high plaudits based on untruths.
When the real-life cancer patient finally discovered they were being used for years in theft-by-deception schemes, the cancer patient contacted the University of South Florida, and filed fraud and abuse reports — and was ignored — then retaliated against.
The abuser was praised, and continues to receive academic awards.
The university professor-abuser contradictorily works and teaches in the new field of Medical Humanities, of which the Judy Genshaft Honors College and the University of South Florida receives large monetary grants from the NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities).
This USF and Honors College professor, who falsified previous grant and job applications, and received thousands of dollars in return for lies and abuse, continues to file new grant applications — asking for more money.
Is this how NEH grant money should be used? Given to charity thieves and cancer patient abusers? No.
But academics and medical fields are ripe with fraud.
The university professor-abuser is frequently working around medical patients to this day.
She has full classes of young students where the abuser proposed to teach a Medical Humanities course ironically named “Suffering, Death, and Compassion”.
The paradoxical course description is: “Explores representations of illness, suffering, the professional caregiver, care of the dying, and death in art and literature.”
Scamming Hearts and Minds Hurts Real Cancer Patients Who Suffer Immensely
Like the USF Medical Humanities university professor-abuser, in Pennsylvania, another woman, Vanessa O’Rourke, also used a fake cancer scheme to steal money from caring donors. Law enforcement is fed up with those that pilfer cancer charities.
“The allegations in this case are nauseating,” said United States Attorney William M. McSwain.
The woman “is charged with preying upon the kindness and generosity of good people who wished to help those in need … there was no need here — only lies, greed, and callous manipulation.”
“Misleading people about a significant medical diagnosis in order to take advantage of their kind hearts and open wallets is reprehensible,” said Michael J. Driscoll, an FBI Special Agent.
“Instead, those funds supported her lifestyle and leisure. When someone commits such financial fraud, the FBI and our law enforcement partners will work to hold them accountable.”
Patient Abuse: What Do the States Say? (FYI: Abuse Happens Far Too Frequently, Abusers Keep Jobs, Abusers Too Often Elude Justice)
All fifty states now have policies against patient abuse, neglect, and retaliation hostile to reporters. Some states’ rules are stronger than others. In reality, policies are not always enforced, and abusers are still hired, tolerated, or ignored until too late. In the final analysis: Actions always speak louder than words.
Montana State Policy for Abuse or Neglect in 2019 states:
- All patients have the right to be free from abuse or neglect as well as the fear of being abused or neglected.
- Abuse of patients, either verbal, physical or sexual, or by exploitation or neglect, is not tolerated and is considered grounds for disciplinary action up to and including termination.
- Retaliation, discrimination, or coercion against patients, employees, or others who report abuse or neglect is also not tolerated and is considered grounds for disciplinary action up to and including termination.
- DEFINITIONS of Abuse: Any willful, negligent, or reckless mental, physical, sexual, or verbal mistreatment or maltreatment or misappropriation of personal property of any person receiving treatment.
The Abuser Next-Door: Sociopaths Make Up 3 to 5 Percent of the Population
FDIA is more common among women than men. Possibly because of the traditional part or evolutionary role of women as “caregiver”.
While there are varieties that are greater in frequency, Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another / Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy can affect anyone — and involve any type of patient of any age as the unwilling and often unknowing, confused, trapped victim.
Be aware there are ranges of FDIA and other mental illnesses, and not every doctor will agree on diagnosis or precise symptoms. Agreed symptoms may change from one publication or era to another. Mental illness impacts what is invisible — the mind.
While it is effortless to diagnose a broken arm, it is not always easy to diagnose a broken mind. Physical and mental illness are repeatedly misdiagnosed or unnoticed, but that does not mean there is not something seriously wrong.
An abuser diagnosed with FDIA is not necessarily a sociopath, but certain traits regularly overlap, and mental illness often comes with co-morbidity.
Sociopaths make up approximately 3 to 5 percent of the general population.
The lack of conscience and an inability to feel remorse are the underlying factors. The sociopathic personality is initially viewed as charming — until the casual deception shines through their masterful manipulation. They have skillful aptitudes for lying and cheating.
They psychologically need to exploit and orchestrate others for personal gain.
Sociopaths have little to no capacity to feel guilt.
However, they fake guilty emotions all the time to evade full punishment — or to appear “normal”.
Sociopaths are anything but “normal”, and may live or work around you anywhere.
The sociopath can be your teacher, priest, athletic coach, lawyer, a person of authority, caregiver, or the abuser or serial killer next-door.
Future Articles Documenting the Destruction Left by Cruel Caregivers
Examples of these devastating abuses will be explored and deeply examined with real-life cases in future articles. Documentation, photographs, testimonies, and evidence will be presented.
Safety Planning When You’re Being “Cared For” (Abused) by an Unsafe Caregiver
Madison Brock (LCSW, MSSW) warns: “If you feel that you’re in emotional or physical danger, it’s important to think ahead about what steps to take. This is called safety planning. Keep in mind that safety looks different for everyone. It can include how to stay safe while living with an abuser, while planning to leave, or taking steps after you have gotten out of the situation. No matter what stage you are in, remember that you have options and are not alone.”
Please, if it feels safe to do so, let someone you trust on your health care team know what is going on.
Madison Brock (LCSW, MSSW) stresses: “Everyone has the right to a safe and supportive relationship, especially those with cancer.”
The Secret Cruelty Needs to Be Exposed
Stand up for yourself. Save yourself. You may be a victim, but do not remain a victim.
You may not be able to rescue yourself alone — while the person that is supposedly “helping” you is the house-fire you must escape — so contact authorities or a professional as soon as safely possible.
Madison Brock (LCSW, MSSW) brings to the fore: “This is a subject which is absolutely not talked about enough.”
Following articles will investigate the shadowy and true faces of abusers, what experts recommend to survive their dangerous grip, plus what happens when the law catches them, and how — even when it took years — some brave victims fought back.
Cancer patient abuse is a dark world — but there is saving light.
Written By: Elizabeth Wieck (A Cancer and Abuse Survivor)
For the Cancer Survivor and Abuse Survivor Network
Get Help or Learn More
You can also get help or learn more by calling The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1–800–799–7233 or 1–800–787–3224 (TTY), or by chatting with advocates online at https://www.thehotline.org.
Who is Madison Brock, LCSW, MSSW?
Madison Brock, LCSW, MSSW — who has been consulted for these articles — is a highly-trained clinical social work counselor and expert on caregiver abuse.
MSSW is an abbreviation for “Master of Science in Social Work”. These specialized counselors focus on sensitivity to the personal, social, economic and political needs of in-danger, high-risk populations. Importance is placed on victim empowerment, individual advocacy for greater social justice, and challenging the oppression of diverse and vulnerable persons.
LCSW is a “Licensed Clinical Social Worker”. LCSWs hold Master’s Degrees and work with individuals and groups to solve mental health and social problems. They marshal skills in both therapy and the traditional practical solutions that social services provide. These extra counseling capabilities come on top of the typical social worker skillsets — client advocacy, coordinating care, and organizing services.
References:
Cancer patients and domestic violence: More common than you might think — https://www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/more-than-you-might-think-cancer-victims-and-domestic-violence.h00-158675790.html
Domestic violence and caregiving — https://www.mdanderson.org/cancerwise/domestic-violence-intimate-partner-violence.h00-159070290.html
Recognizing the Signs of Caregiver Abuse — https://www.oncnursingnews.com/view/recognizing-the-signs-of-caregiver-abuse
Intimate Partner Violence Among Women Diagnosed With Cancer — https://journals.lww.com/cancernursingonline/Fulltext/2016/03000/Intimate_Partner_Violence_Among_Women_Diagnosed.1.aspx
Delay in treatment of invasive cervical cancer due to intimate partner violence — https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0090825805004798 and https://www.gynecologiconcology-online.net/article/S0090-8258(05)00479-8/pdf
Identifying signs and symptoms of intimate partner violence in an oncology setting — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16927904/ and https://cjon.ons.org/sites/default/files/Y12050W859016XR6_first.pdf
Domestic violence against women with cancer: examples and review of the literature — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16444849/
Caregiver Violence against People with Disabilities — http://criminal-justice.iresearchnet.com/crime/domestic-violence/caregiver-violence-against-people-with-disabilities/
Rural and Remote Health — http://www.rrh.org.au
The impact of intimate partner violence on breast and cervical cancer survivors in an integrated, safety-net setting — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32671556/
Factitious Disorder By Proxy: Colorado Woman Allegedly Fakes Her Son’s Cancer And Raises $23,000 — http://www.psychlawjournal.com/2014/03/factitious-disorder-by-proxy-colorado.html
Woman who faked son’s cancer sentenced — https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woman-who-faked-sons-cancer-sentenced/
Woman Formerly of Harleysville, PA, Indicted on Fraud Charges for “GoFundMe” Cancer Scheme — https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/woman-formerly-harleysville-pa-indicted-fraud-charges-gofundme-cancer-scheme
Former Harleysville woman indicted on fraud charges for ‘GoFundMe’ scam — https://www.thereporteronline.com/2020/09/08/former-harleysville-woman-indicted-on-fraud-charges-for-gofundme-scam/
Toronto doctor loses licence after she admits to sexual relationship with cancer patient — https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/doctor-license-relationsip-theepa-sundaralingam-1.4990346
Toronto doctor loses medical license for having sex with ‘emotionally exposed’ cancer patient in hospital bed — https://meaww.com/toronto-doctor-theepa-sundaralingam-loses-medical-license-having-sex-with-cancer-patient
German nurse who murdered 87 patients given life sentence — https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/german-nurse-accused-killing-100-patients-faces-verdict-63522459
Niels Högel: German ex-nurse convicted of killing 85 patients — https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-48539894
Niels Högel — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Högel
Factitious disorder imposed on another — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factitious_disorder_imposed_on_another
Psychopathy — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy
Sociopathy — https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/sociopathy
Sociopath — https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/sociopath
Sociopath Definition: What Is A Sociopath? — https://www.mind-diagnostics.org/blog/sociopath/sociopath-definition-what-is-a-sociopath
Signs of a Sociopath — https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/signs-sociopath
Statistics: The Nature of a Sociopath — https://eyesofasociopath.weebly.com/statistics.html
Types and Signs of Abuse — https://www.lancasterlawoffice.com/elder-abuse/ and https://purposedsurvivor.com/abuse-survivor-basics/
MONTANA STATE HOSPITAL POLICY AND PROCEDURE: ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE OR NEGLECT — https://dphhs.mt.gov/assets/amdd/MSH/volumeii/treatment/AllegationsOfAbuseOrNeglect.pdf
Barren River Area Safe Space — https://www.brassinc.org
Other references.
