Medico-Crime: Time for a Police-Health Professions Protocol?

Abstract

This article is concerned with crimes committed by health professionals against their patients and with the unsatisfactory detection of such crimes in recent years. Using the example of the initial investigation by the Greater Manchester Police into the Harold Shipman murders as an example, this article makes two recommendations: (a) the creation of a formal police and health professions' protocol; (b) the formation of a group of specialist officers within each regional division who are au fait with carrying out investigations in the medical context. The article ends with some practical suggestions for achieving this.