Benjamin Geen
Benjamin Geen is a British repeat murderer and former nurse who was convicted of killing two of his own patients and committing grievous bodily harm against 15 others while working at Horton General Hospital in Banbury, Oxfordshire in 2003 and 2004.
Geen, who was believed to be motivated by his 'thrill-seeking' temperament, injected a number of patients with dangerous drugs in order to cause respiratory arrest so he could enjoy the 'thrill' of resuscitating them.
When he saw officers approaching, he discharged the syringe contents into his jacket pocket in an attempt to hide the fact he had removed potentially lethal drugs from the hospital without authority.
[1] This was a reference to the infamous serial killer nurse Beverley Allitt, who in 1991 had injected a number of patients with lethal substances to seek attention.
[3] Notably, this edition also featured an interview with actress Rachel Leskovac, who played a serial killer nurse in the medical drama Holby City.
[4] He had previously been warned by hospital managers for turning up at the emergency department without authority, and was instructed to stop drifting there from the minor injuries unit where he was posted.
[5][6][7] These patients had all been admitted with only minor complaints such as dislocated shoulders and other mostly non-life-threatening conditions, yet suddenly found themselves fighting for their lives when they were treated by Geen.
[1] Another man who suffered an unexplained respiratory arrest when treated by Geen, David Nelson, was found to have the drug midazolam in his system, despite its not having been prescribed by any of the medical staff.
[11] This had not been done in the cases of these patients, and so the discovery of these potentially lethal drugs in their systems despite no staff member having prescribed them indicated that a renegade medic had intentionally poisoned the individuals.
[11] Notably, the latter patient was fine both before and after Geen treated him, having been well enough to drive himself to the hospital and making a full recovery after his respiratory arrest as soon as doctors put him on a life support machine.
"[9] An internal investigation (before the two deaths had occurred) initially identified 25 patients who had experienced sudden respiratory arrest or failure under Geen's care, but nine were discounted before administrators alerted the police.
[11][10] The jacket was tested and was found to not only contain vecuronium but also traces of midazolam, the drug known to have been illegally administered to some of Geen's patients and which had caused them to go into respiratory arrest.
During his trial, Oxford Crown Court was told that Geen purposely used insulin, sedatives, and muscle relaxants[6] to trigger respiratory arrest or failure in patients because he enjoyed the 'thrill' of resuscitating them.
[1] One nurse testified how Geen appeared "elated" when one of the victims went into respiratory arrest, and said "oh no, here we go again" as the patient began to fight for breath despite being in a good condition minutes earlier.
[16] Another testified how she had been treating the patient earlier in the morning when he was in a good condition, but then discovered he had died shortly after she had handed over responsibility of his care to Geen.
Mr Price [prosecution KC] argued the danger of approaching this particular case on the basis of academic statistical opinion, however distinguished, is divorced from the actual facts.
[14] Geen's subsequent applications for appeal to the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the public body that investigates alleged miscarriages of justice, have all been rejected.
[24] The CCRC noted that, besides the statistics, there was other compelling evidence indicating Geen's guilt, such as the syringe full of drugs found in his pocket which he had tried to hide and the fact that all of the patients had rapidly declined while under his personal care.
[11] The commission was then forced to reconsider its 2015 decision in the wake of a legal challenge, but in July 2020 the CCRC again announced that they saw no reason to refer Geen's case to the Court of Appeal and rejected his application.
