Re-release: Ep 39-Crimes On Ward Four-the Devastating Murders of a Nightmare Nurse (Part 2)

The scariest villains don’t lurk in shadows; they wear scrubs, speak softly, and learn your child’s name. We return to the Beverly Allitt case and follow the tight trail from confusion to certainty: unexplained pediatric collapses, careful interviews, and the lab result that cracked it open—insulin present with no C peptide, a forensic fingerprint of injection. That single biochemical detail reframed the entire investigation, linking opportunity, access, and intention in a way charm couldn’t erase.

Between the hard chapters, we keep space for the human side of care—a “chart note” on engineered gut bacteria that could reduce kidney stones, a quick laugh from a translation mishap that reminds us why presence matters more than devices, and two sponsor spotlights aimed at real-life needs. Through it all, we hold to one theme: trust is fragile. Safeguards—from key control to documentation and lab literacy—aren’t red tape; they are the rails that keep patients safe when charisma tries to derail the truth.

If this story made you think differently about evidence, motive, or safety in care, help us keep these conversations going. Subscribe or follow Doctoring the Truth, share the episode with a friend, and leave a five-star review to bring more curious listeners into the community. Your voice helps build a safer, smarter healthcare culture.

Resources: 

Reuters Chart Note 

Wiki

Washington Post  

www.thefamouspeople.com

Crime Library  

www.biography.com 

www.readersenjoyauthorsdreams.com 

​Murderpedia

www.famousbio.net  

BBC - Beverley Allitt Tapes 

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-07-genetically-gut-bacteria-combating-kidney.html 

Transcript

Banter, Bugs, And Corrections

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Amanda.

unknown 0:08

Hi.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

How are you, chickadee dee dee di?

SPEAKER_03 0:11

The real good. How are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Good. I am so stoked to hear about part two of this horrific tale and for hopefully some adjustice. Well deserved.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

Oh yes. I'm excited to share part two with you guys.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

We were just talking before we started about spoiler alert, we debug before we start this. It's ladybug in the face season here in Minnesota. Oh my gosh, and they're not real ladybugs. Do they come from Japan? I don't know. They're like little bitey ones that are rusty orange and mean.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

I know. And they they you don't even know. Like I'll be a walking raven, and one will land on me, and I don't even know. And then it starts biting me, and I'm like, what the hell?

SPEAKER_00 1:03

I know. Why are they so mean? I used to think they were sweet, you know?

SPEAKER_03 1:08

I know. It's like a different brand. I don't like it. They're rude.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

My daughter has a friend named Laney, and she dressed up as Ladybug for Halloween, otherwise calling herself the Laneybug. Oh, which is so cute. But I was like, do you have thanks? Because if you're a Minnesota ladybug, you're not a friend. Valid question.

SPEAKER_03 1:31

You're a foe. I have asked people, like, since when are ladybugs so rude?

unknown 1:37

I know.

SPEAKER_03 1:38

Like in childhood, growing up, I'm like, they used to be cute. Count their little speckles.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

We used to be like, yeah, you count their freckles and you go fly home to however many freckles worth of babies. Ladybug, ladybug, fly on home, something or other. Your house is on fire and your children are alone. Wow. Oh, that's a little bit sinister. Wow. Did you not do that one? No. Oh. I kind of want to look it up. Yeah. Oh boy, I feel ancient at this point. But yes.

SPEAKER_03 2:07

Maybe they got sick of being told their house was on fire.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

So they're like, I'm and your children are alone. And they're like, we don't care. We want to just bite us a human. Oh man. Is this the point where we talk about correction section? I think we have a couple.

SPEAKER_03 2:29

So first I'll share that last time when I was reading about quantum squares. I apparently just, you know, didn't put the percentage off on. I guessed, Jenna guessed. I think it was in the middle of our guesses at 25% off.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

Yeah. One of us said 20 and the other said 30. But guess what, guys? 25% that's a quarter. 25% off. A quarter of the price taken off just for our.

SPEAKER_03 2:59

I think that's the one that ended on Halloween.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Okay. So it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_03 3:05

So anyway, we're just correcting ourselves for the record, but when we tell you it's a limited time deal, it's a limited time deal.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Yeah, yeah, I gotta get on it. And so kudos to those of you who who listened and responded in a timely fashion. The other correction is that just laughing at Amanda's notes. Jenna moved to the woods and she hasn't discovered the internet yet.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

I said the woods haven't discovered the internet yet. You're missing the internet.

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Yeah, so our timing is a bit off. We're still thank you for bearing with us and having patience. We're still not sure when recording day and producing day will be. We're gonna definitely get you an episode a week, but it might vary for a while until we figure out if, you know, we can upload. So what happened was after 21 years at my previous job, I moved four or five hours north of where I was. And it's way up at the boonies, beautiful place, but signal isn't always reliable. So loving my new life, however, not so great when it comes to reliable signals. So stay tuned, listeners, and thank you for your patience.

SPEAKER_03 4:25

Yes. So the schedule change that I posted that may change again, but that's fine because you know what? The woods don't have the internet, and we're just trying to figure that out as we go here.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

I'm wondering if the bears are blocking the signal. I Keith

Life In The Woods And Bear Worries

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Kid or the Moose. Just moose. I don't know. Do you know how big those things are? I mean, I haven't run into one yet, but I've been warned by people around here, and they're like as big as a truck. Like I've never seen one in person. So me either, and I hope to I hope that that stays the way it is. But that being said, that between that and an 11-foot bear that I've been told about. Legendary. Legendary bear. If any of our listeners have any advice for how to survive a bear attack or get rid of bears and East Moose, let us know. I'm collecting suggestions. Originally I thought maybe I could climb a tree, but apparently they're little beasties are really good at that. They're excellent.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

Yeah. So I might just stay inside. And obvious, obviously, the obvious of don't leave your trash out. Because when I lived up north, definitely way more I hate to say civilized, but uh we didn't have internet issues. But we had bear issues, and wow, did they love to fuck up some trash? Oh my gosh. Yeah, that's concerning. It would be like driving in a neighborhood and everyone's trash just tipped over. It's kind of funny, but it also sucked if you had to pick up all your ripped trash.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

I mean, don't we call raccoons trash bandits? What are bears like trash trash demons compared to raccoons? The rashers.

unknown 6:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Trash trashers. Oh my gosh. What's really funny is my colleagues got me a like a going away survival kit before I moved up here, and you're one of those, thank you. And in that kit, you probably know since you were part of it, was a how to survive a bear attack book of helpful hints, which rather than helpful, they seem to be more terrifying than anything. But so thanks. But also a because I don't I love animals and and I I appreciate the fact that we need to hunt and you know, overpopulations of things, but I'm not you know, not a big fan of doing that myself, which makes me a hypocrite, I guess. But anyhow, if if a bear comes up to me, normally people would choose a bear spray or some kind, but I was given because I don't like to hurt animals, I was given a canister that releases a I don't know, 140 decibel signal to scare the bear. At which point I was like, that's wonderful. So a bear is coming up to me. I release this, I release this siren thing, and I mean it looks like a a can of mace, and I release it and it's 140 decibels or whatever it is. Both I and the bear are both deafened. What happens when the bear comes back? Because he's already deaf. So I'm gonna hold that thing up again and he's gonna go. I don't care, I can't hear it.

SPEAKER_03 7:44

Both of you, you're not gonna even hear the bear coming. You're gonna know if it's working.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

So, yeah, suggestions, comments, advice, reach out, you know. The girl's a bit worried about survival here in the wilderness, but but thanks to Git for the gift.

SPEAKER_03 8:02

They're gonna hibernate soon, you'll be okay. You have a a little bit of time, they're hungry right now. But uh, so if you can get through this hunger part, they'll be hibernating.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

And then in the spring when they come out, what do they come out at the same time as the groundhog to look around? I don't know. I mean, we always hear about this this groundhog is gonna determine whether or not we get an extra. Okay. All right. Well, so I'll look out for the groundhog and then replenish my supplies of and get my hearing protection out so that at least I won't lose my hearing if I'm like there goes that girl that walks around with all the hearing sounding off at a bear. Yeah. Oh my goodness. Anyway, so what's in store for us today? We've got a we've got a new sponsor. Tell me about this one.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Okay. Tana, I believe is how you pronounce it. It's T-O-N-A, Activeware. It was founded by a former Lululemon designer and inspired by the chief design officers who was a competitive athlete. They created premium leggings designed specifically for women who train hard. Because who loves working out with leggings that roll the fuck down? No one. They have moisture-wicking fabric and a four-way stretch technology. They offer comfort, flexibility, and a flawless fit. Customers have praised

New Sponsor: Tona Activewear

SPEAKER_03 9:32

them for staying in place, feeling like a second skin, and enhancing their shape. With a 100% fit and happiness guarantee, Tana promotes its leggings as the ultimate combination of style and performance. The last black leggings you'll ever need, they say. Visit the worldwide web.tanaactive.com for 16% off your order with our exclusive code stay suspicious.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

And I'm always game for a good legging. Right? Also, I just heard an ad on the radio today for like a Pilates class, and they said, make it right, keep it tight. Get it right, get it tight. Yes. Leggings from Tona. Perfect.

SPEAKER_03 10:19

Perfect. And also, if they were founded by a former Lululemon designer, I gotta imagine they're pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 10:29

You know, kind of not really fitting into regular leggings at this moment, but can't wait to try them when I'm not pregnant. So if y'all try them, please let me know. I'll big leggings gal. I think I forgot to say this the last time, but as always, the resources will be in the show notes. And one of my main sources that I got a lot of the transcript stuff from was from BBC, and they did a series called the Beverly Alett Tapes, which is honestly just chilling because it's real tapes of her investigations and whatnot.

unknown 11:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 11:12

And same trigger warning as last week of child abuse, which I don't think probably in part two we really get into that as much. It was just my trigger warning from the last time. But let's see if we can find some justice for these kiddos.

Recap Of Part One And The Case Focus

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Let's.

SPEAKER_03 11:29

So, friends, Alley Cats, welcome to episode 39, part two of the Beverly Alet story. Last week we learned who Beverly is, her background, and her upbringing, as well as her journey to becoming a nurse. We ended the episode hearing about the 13 helpless children that were brought into the hospital by their loving parents, and then they became victims at the hands of Beverly. And unfortunately, not all of them survived.

SPEAKER_00 11:59

So sad.

SPEAKER_03 12:01

So a team of detectives was established at the Grantham police station to investigate the large number of attacks that had happened over an eight-week period, some resulting in death, but even more concerning that the episodes didn't appear to be natural. Michelle Billingsley, detective

Detectives Zero In On Beverly

SPEAKER_03 12:19

inspector on the family service unit, was sent to the Grantham hospital to make general inquiries to the staff and the parents involved. She was trying to establish what had happened, but I mean, they were going in blind. They had no clue what they were looking for. And again, I mentioned this before, but they thought initially there was possibly just an innocent bug going around that was causing the collapse of these children. Because why would we ever want to assume that some monster is doing this on purpose? Right. Michelle noted that in the interviews, Beverly Alet was very pleasant and really kind. She seemed kind of quiet, but she was willing to talk and assist with the inquiry. She wasn't set apart from the other staff in the ward that were questioned. Detectives sat and looked at each case and the staff who had cared for the children. And by the time of the questioning, detectives were aware that she had been present for every attack that a child had suffered. But they weren't able to marry her demeanor in the interviews with someone who would be capable of doing this.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

I know, but that's the nature of a sociopath, right? Yeah. They're good at this. Yeah. Masking.

SPEAKER_03 13:36

It wasn't too difficult to realize that the crimes were being committed, but they needed hard proof. Detectives contacted Professor Hull at QMC to review Paul Crampton's medical files. After review, he didn't explicitly say the words attempted murder, but he shared he was certain that something unlawful had happened. The medical staff couldn't come up with any evidence that the insulin had been intentionally injected, but they also couldn't come up with any sort of disease or disorder that would cause the body to overproduce insulin either. Vincent Marks, who's a professor emeritus of clinical biochemistry, was at a conference in Glasgow and was told that the police wanted to talk to him. And he was like, What the hell? Why do the police want to talk to him? Right? Yikes. So he like left the conference room he was in and got on the phone with the police, and they explained that they were investigating a possible intentional insulin overdose. So he was able to prove that the insulin had been injected into Paul because there was an insulin present in the blood, but no C peptide. So he explained that insulin is made in the body naturally and it circulates in the bloodstream as a natural substance. In our bodies, insulin is always released into the bloodstream from the pancreas where it is made, and another sister hormone, C peptide. So if you measure C peptide in blood, it is always higher in concentration than insulin because it disappears from the blood more slowly than insulin. So although they

The Insulin–C‑Peptide Breakthrough

SPEAKER_03 15:12

both go into the blood at the same rate, the insulin disappears faster. So if you find insulin and no C peptide, the only absolute cause of the high insulin and the low C peptide is that someone has given the patient insulin from a bottle.

SPEAKER_00 15:27

Oh my God, that is so fascinating.

SPEAKER_03 15:29

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

You knew.

SPEAKER_03 15:31

Wow. Uh-huh. Wow. Like, thank goodness they thought to call Mr. Smarty Pants.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Oh my goodness. Yeah. I mean, that's that's black and white evidence right there.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

Mm-hmm. Paul's insulin result was the highest that Professor Marks had ever seen, and there was no C peptide present. And that is how he knew it was malicious.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Wow. My I've got chills. Go, Professor Marks.

SPEAKER_03 15:59

Within a few days, it was evident that the only person who could be guilty was Beverly Allett. She was the only one present during all of the attacks. She also had access to the drugs and the keys relevant to the investigation. There were missing nursing logs, unexplained drug orders, and discrepancies in the medication storage. They had good evidence that she had something to do with it, but again, they didn't have actual individual evidence. When she was questioned, she told police that she did remember Paul Crampton being on the ward. She recalled that he was there for a possible chest infection and that he was, quote, wheezy, very wheezy, end quote. When questioned more directly about Paul and his hypoglycemic episodes, they told her that she was the only one who had a window of opportunity to possibly inject insulin into Paul. Her response was, quote, why would I do that? I wouldn't do that. You think I went in there and looked at that baby and said, here, have some of this, referring to the insulin, and then left? End quote.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

Yes, Beverly. That's exactly what everyone thinks, Beverly.

SPEAKER_03 17:15

We think we know. On May 21st, 1991, Beverly Alet was arrested at her home for suspicion of theft of a key from the hospital and the attempted murder of Paul Crampton. While being interviewed at the station, they discussed that the fridge key on the big key ring to the drug trolley was missing, and they suspected that she had it, and that is how she had access to the insulin that she injected into Paul.

SPEAKER_00 17:44

So so that was a fridge. Sorry, so that wasn't like the employee lunch fridge. That was the fridge for the medication. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

And it was just like a huge key ring of keys, and this one particular key to the to the fridge was gone off the keyring. So she claimed repeatedly, over and over and over, that she would never do such a thing, saying, I'm really going to give that harm harmful drug to a tiny, helpless little baby. Yeah, Bev, that's what we think.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

So evil. Because she obviously knew it was wrong. Yeah. If she's gonna say things like that. Yeah.

Interrogations, The Missing Key, And Cracks

SPEAKER_03 18:25

And I just think back to last week when we talked about how she accepted the role as godmother for that one child. Like, you are such a monster.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

Evil godmother.

SPEAKER_03 18:36

She was also adamant that she had never seen the missing key. Beverly sat through nine different interviews that day that started at 10:30 in the morning and they ended at 9.30 at night. They kept their focus on the key, hoping that she would slip up. Because, you see, they knew that during her first interview at the hospital, she had said she had no idea about the key. But in her second interview at the hospital, which was a week after the first, she remembered very detailed accounts about the missing key. She said in that second interview that she was asked to go to the fridge to get some eye drops. And when she got to the fridge, the key was missing. But now here we are at the police station and she magically knows nothing about the key again. He interviewed her more aggressively than anyone had all day. Whereas before it seemed as though she built rapport with the detectives. Because they're like, how do we approach this? Are we trying to like build rapport? Hope she slips up. And this guy came in and was like, nah. And and also that's the end of the day. She's tired.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

She's tired. And sociopaths are charming. They're able to really build rapport somehow and recognize what it takes to charm someone and keep them off the scent. So I think that was an excellent tactic on his part.

SPEAKER_03 20:05

Agree. So Officer Reeves' aggressiveness made her become antagonistic, and her vulnerabilities began to show. And she knew it, which decreased her confidence. So ding ding ding. Go, Officer Reeve. Yay! Dr. Don Archer, professor of pragmatics and corpus linguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University, said, quote, Beverly was remarkably calm for someone of her age and someone who had never been questioned by the police before, but was being asked to give interviews back to back to back. I think she was someone who was good at telling stories. However, when Officer Reeve flipped the script, her pitch begins to rise during the interview, which shows stress. She also began to show double negation, which shows that her confidence was crumbling. End quote.

SPEAKER_00 20:57

I love that. I love that.

SPEAKER_03 20:59

I know. Following the nine interviews that day, she was released on bail. Police continued to collect evidence. And then they found that she was moonlighting at Lancaster House Nursing Home. Resident Dorothy Lowe was injected with insulin and died of a hypoglycemic attack. She, Beverly, was seen by housekeeping at 3 a.m. with a syringe in her hand. And that was her smoking gun.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 21:30

She was again arrested on the suspicion of the murder of Dorothy Lowe. And when questioned, she would only say, no reply. Which is honestly so infuriating to me.

SPEAKER_00 21:43

Oh my goodness. She's on a rampage.

SPEAKER_03 21:47

But before we get more into that, it's time for a chartnote. Welcome to the chartnote segment,

The Nursing Home Smoking Gun

SPEAKER_03 22:01

where we learn about what's happening in medicine and healthcare. In July 2025, researchers at Stanford University announced a breakthrough approach to preventing kidney stones using genetically engineered gut bacteria. Their goal was to tackle one of the main culprits behind kidney stone formation, oxalate, which is a compound that can build up in the body when the kidneys fail to filter it properly. For people with EH, enteric hyperoxalaria, a condition that causes excessive oxalate absorption, the risk is even higher, and existing treatments are often limited or ineffective. To address this, scientists turn to naturally occurring gut micro phosicolia, blah blah blah.

SPEAKER_00 22:57

You wanna check that? Yeah. Uh I mean, I think you did a great job, but I would say phosicola fugatis. Got it.

SPEAKER_03 23:06

Sounds like a bugatti. They modified the bacterium. You guys, I'm not a microbiologist, okay. What? Yeah, right. They modified the bacterium to break down oxalate inside the digestive tract before it could enter the bloodstream. To make the system controllable, they added a clever safety feature. The bacteria was also engineered to depend on porphyrin, a nutrient found in seaweed. This meant that the

News Frenzy And Trial Preparation

SPEAKER_03 23:36

bacteria could thrive only when the porphyrin was present in the person's diet, essentially giving researchers a way to turn the bacteria on or off. The research unfolded in several stages. First, animal studies, where rats fed, were fed a high oxalate diet, showed up to 47% reduction in urinary oxalate levels after being colonized with the engineered bacteria. In a separate rat model mimicking enterochiperoxluria, the usual spike in oxalate excretion was completely prevented, a striking result that gave researchers confidence to move to human testing. And in the first human trial, 39 healthy volunteers received a single oral dose of the engineered bacterium. Results showed that colonization was dose-dependent and could be effectively managed by adjusting the porphyrin intake. The approach appeared safe and well tolerated with no adverse events reported. And in most participants, the bacteria cleared naturally once the porphyrin was removed from their diets. However, in two cases, modified microbe persisted in the gut even after antibiotic treatment, likely because some of its genes were exchanged with the native bacteria. SmartyPants science stuff. There's always a couple in a study, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Right.

SPEAKER_03 24:59

So, but that did raise important questions about long-term containment and genetic stability. But finally, the team tested the therapy in nine patients with enteric hyperoxaluria, six of whom completed it, and the reduction reduction showed an average of about 27%. Results were not statistically significant due to a small sample size, but the trend suggests that the therapy could be effective with refined and larger studies. Overall, this finding marks a major step forward in using engineered gut biomes as living therapeutics, which is super exciting because I've never had a kidney stone, but I know people have had kidney stones and they are miserable.

SPEAKER_00 25:51

I don't know. I mean, sorry, I didn't mean to say giving birth is horrible, like worse than giving birth. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:59

So yeah, for such a tiny little thing.

SPEAKER_00 26:02

Because you don't get the

Verdict, Sentencing, And Lifetime Detention

SPEAKER_00 26:03

epidural or the joy of having a kid at the end of it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:10

Yeah. Oh, there's everyone just straining their pee out there hoping that it came through. So anyway, that's exciting. Okay, back to the story. In October of 1991, Beverly was charged with four counts of murder, 13 counts of attempted murder, and 13 counts of grievous bodily harm. She was asked, Why did you attempt to murder these children? From that point on, the only answer that she would give is no reply. So annoying. So annoying. I mean, first, obviously, she was just lying. You think I would do that? I would never do that. But somehow that is less annoying than no reply. This was a frenzy in the news with the headlines reading Baby Killer and Killer Nurse. This was one of the highest profile cases because of it being a woman accused of such crimes, but also the fact that she was a nurse. A nurse because someone who is a nurse is gifted to look after the vulnerable and sick. After the news spread, her childhood neighbor, Jeremy Marshall Roberts, could not believe that she would be capable of such crimes. She was the neighborhood babysitter, after all.

SPEAKER_00 27:36

Yikes. Oh man.

SPEAKER_03 27:40

Mm-hmm. Yeah. She didn't have the background that you'd typically associate with a serial killer. He said that nothing seemed to have happened to her, no event, or something that seemingly would have turned her into a serial killer. But sometimes in a normal family, there will just be an anomaly. This person who doesn't think, respond, or care or feel like others do. No empathy. And sometimes in society, that's just the luck of the draw. On February 14th, 1993, after already having been in custody for 453 days, Beverly went to trial at Nottingham Crown Court. The trial was obviously difficult and emotional for all of the parents, and

Motives: Factitious Disorder Or Psychopathy

SPEAKER_03 28:25

there were no signs of emotion whatsoever for Beverly. Not even facial expressions. Just sat there like a bump on a log. Oh, what a waste of space. The trial exposed the crimes in detail. No one was surprised when a guilty verdict came back, really filled the courtroom, and the judge, Mr. Justice Lantham, described her as a serious danger to others and made it clear that her release would be unlikely. She was given 13 concurrent life sentences with the minimum term initially recommended around 30 years. It was the harshest sentence ever delivered to a female, but according to the judge, it was commensurate with the horrific suffering of the victims, their families, and the shame that she had brought upon nursing as a profession.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

Amen. By the way, can I sorry? Can I just point out that the judge's name was Justice? I mean, if you're not sure. What a perfect path. I just love that. It's almost too good to be true.

SPEAKER_03 29:36

Beverly was detained at the high security psychiatric hospital, Rampton Secure Hospital, and remains there today. This is a high security facility that houses mainly individuals detained under the Mental Health Act. As an inmate at Rampton, she of course began her attention seeking behaviors again, ingesting ground glass and pouring boiling water onto her hands. She has subsequently admitted to three of the murders of which she was charged, as well as six of the assaults. I have a question.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

So she was convicted, but then were they using an insanity plea? Like, why does she get to be in a psychiatric hospital?

SPEAKER_03 30:19

Yeah, she apparently fell under the qualifications of this mental health act to be held at a mental health hospital. And that was a big thing at the time. The families and everyone were protesting this decision. Like she should be in jail. Like she murdered all these people.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

She knew exactly what she was doing. She knew that she needed to mask her behavior, lie about it because it wasn't okay, and cover her tracks. So she's not insane.

SPEAKER_03 30:46

Mm-hmm. And it's much more cozy. This this was said several times, like much more cozy for her to be at Rampton instead of in jail.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

Well, maybe not so cozy when you're swallowing glass. I hope that hurt.

SPEAKER_03 30:59

Yeah, I hope so too. In December of 2007, Sir Stanley Burton of the High Court and Court of Appeals judge reviewed her case. Beverly was seeking a reduced sentence. The impression from the trial was that she didn't derive pleasure from what she was doing. But now that Stanley Burton had her psychiatric records for review, he firmly believed that she did derive pleasure from what she had done. And so with that, the sentence was upheld by the court.

SPEAKER_00 31:31

Oh, it worked against her. Ah I love that. Yay. Take that, baby baby.

SPEAKER_03 31:40

You deserve it. She has been placed on the home office list of criminals who will never be eligible for parole. Amen. Lehu Zeher. Understanding why Beverly Alec committed these crimes has been a subject of psychiatric and criminology scrutiny. One of the key interpretations is that she exhibited features of factitious disorder, previously known as Munchausen syndrome, and indeed the rare form as Munchausen syndrome by proxy or MSBP, or factitious disorder imposed on another. In MSPB, the perpetrator includes or fabricates illness in someone else, often a child,

Sponsor: Cheeky Night Guards

SPEAKER_03 32:30

to gain attention, sympathy, or a sense of importance. In Beverly's early life, which we talked about last week, the pattern of self-injury and hospital visits pointed to such a disorder. Let us not forget that repeated self-harm, frequent absenteeism, and manipulative relationships. Then, when she entered nursing, the theory goes, her need for attention and to be seen as a heroic figure shifted to harming children in her care that she could rescue them or be seen as indispensable. Dr. Jane Moncden Smith, forensic criminologist, believes that Beverly has an antisocial disorder with a lot of psychopathic traits. She said of her, she's hurting the children, but she's hurting their parents twice as much. I think it's the adults that she's actually trying to hurt. Children are disposable, collateral damage. She doesn't get as much from hurting the children as much as she does from hurting their parents. For Beverly, the aftermath is just as much a part of the event as the actual assault. She's still the person with the power, and one of the things that gives her power is that she's not affected emotionally by it. So while they're crumbling in front of her, she's a tower of strength.

SPEAKER_00 33:51

Oh wow. Okay. Excellent case. And thank you for covering this as difficult as it has been. It's important. And I Dr. Moncton Smith, I think hit it the nail on the head. I don't think it's Munhausen at all or Munchausen by proxy. She doesn't give a shit about whether or not

Medical Mishap: Translation Tablet Fail

SPEAKER_00 34:15

those kids can recover. She is looking for attention and she's looking for control and she's looking to hurt and feel superior in front of those around the victims that she's hurting. So yeah, I I think that Dr. Smith nailed that one right on the head. And what a tragedy, what a blight on nursing in general, but also those poor children and those poor families.

SPEAKER_03 34:47

You take your baby to the hospital to be healed, and then there's some monster there hurting them.

SPEAKER_00 34:53

And I think that's why it gets so much attention is like oh my gosh, people that go into nursing, first of all, heroes, angels. I mean, she didn't need to do this kind of thing to be a hero. She could have just done her flipping job and been admired and gotten gratitude and grandmother or godmother solicitations from doing her job well. So why she had to take it that extra mile is that part that we don't understand with the mental health issue. Not that she was insane, she knew exactly what she was doing was wrong. Calculated. So absolutely rare, but absolutely shocking and disgusting. So thank you for bringing this up. That was a that was a great coverage of that case.

SPEAKER_03 35:57

Thank you. Yeah, if you guys want to remember, there is a ton out there on her.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:09

Ugh. May she rest in distress.

SPEAKER_00 36:14

May she rot rest in distress or rot in unpeace. Rot in misery. I mean, how can I she destroyed a lot of lives and children?

SPEAKER_03 36:26

I know, and then some of the marriages, too. I mean, some of the parents couldn't recover from going through that tragedy, and then they ended up getting divorced. And so, like, during their interview, they're like, Oh, well, my wife at the time, or my husband at the time. It's like, that's so sad. Like, you literally crumbled every avenue of their life.

unknown 36:49

Ah.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:51

So, anyway.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

I hope she gets the days she deserves every day. You know, like stepping on Legos and having ink and toenails, and I don't know. All of the things that make you miserable. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:08

Although I'm not even gonna get into it. Never mind. I'm gonna say, like, that field trip to the hospital, like you get out for the day.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

Yeah, yeah. No, yeah, just a lot of really horrible, excruciating reminders of how of your wrongdoing, I think. Because it's not like she's repentant. Doesn't sound like so.

SPEAKER_03 37:33

No. And when like they arrested her and picked her up and whatever, she was all like trying to put her head out the window to get that media attention. She was smiling for the tabloids, like she was eating it up.

SPEAKER_00 37:50

It was the attention factor, always, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 37:55

So, anyway, obviously we could go on for days about how much Beverly sucks, but we can probably move on to sponsor number two, who doesn't suck. Um Cheeky.

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SPEAKER_03 38:06

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SPEAKER_00 38:29

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SPEAKER_03 38:33

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SPEAKER_00 39:36

30%. That's crazy. I know, right?

SPEAKER_03 39:38

That's a really good.

SPEAKER_00 39:39

Wow. Thanks, Cheeky. Is it time for our medical mishap? I I we didn't decide who we were singing that one, but I feel like recently we've you know what?

SPEAKER_03 39:52

If you ever feel a jingle in your heart, just do it.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

Go for it. Is it me or you?

SPEAKER_03 39:58

Let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 40:01

Oh, I don't care. I do it. I do it. Okay, I'm gonna do it. All right, so this email subject line is when the translator app tried to kill the vibe. Oh dear. And it starts, hi Jenna and Amanda. I'm a respiratory therapist. RT all the way. We love you guys. RT all day, baby. I'm a respiratory therapist at a large urban hospital, and this happened during one of those shifts where the universe seems determined to test your professionalism. I mean, amen to you. I that's an excellent description of a lot of shifts.

SPEAKER_03 40:45

Unlike Marcy, is this you? Marcy!

SPEAKER_00 40:49

Shout out to our friend Marcy. She listens. A friend of the pod. We had a patient admitted for shortness of breath who spoke very little English, and none of us on the floor spoke her language. The interpreter line was backed up. So we used one of those translation tablets on wheels.

SPEAKER_03 41:06

Oh yeah. They like stick it to the IV pole, tote it around like we got the interpreter.

SPEAKER_00 41:11

It's like a little robot on wheels. The kind that's supposed to make everything easier, but somehow it turns a simple conversation into a tech support nightmare. Uh-huh. I just love that description. It's so true. Excuse me. I was trying to explain how to use the nebulizer. So I held it up, I pointed, and slowly said, breathe in through your mouth. Look in. The tablet the tablet listened intently, blinked twice, and confidently translated something that made the patient's eyes go wide. She shook her head vigorously. Oh no. Oh no, what is what did they actually say? The nurse beside me checked the screen and turned bright red. Oh no. The translation had told her, eat through your mouth. Oh gosh. Try it again. Breathe in. The tablet repeated, eat it now. The patient looked horrified. We both started waving our hands. No, no, no, no, don't eat it. While the poor woman clutched the nebulizer like it was finally, we gave up on the tablet and called the interpreter line. The translator calmly explained everything, and the patient burst out laughing once she realized what had happened. By the end, she pantomimed eating the nebulizer. That's so funny. Every time I walked into the room. Oh, she's so cute. It was one of those humbling reminders that even the best technology can't replace real human communication or a sense of humor. Signed the RT Who Will Never Trust a Translation app again. Don't blame you. Don't blame you. Listen, RT. Oh my god. That is so funny. Bless your heart. And at least you got to the end, the root of it at the end, and the patient didn't go home and try and eat their nebulacer.

SPEAKER_03 43:08

Yeah, that would be no bueno. No bueno.

unknown 43:12

No bueno.

SPEAKER_03 43:13

Yeah, those on the IV stand. I guess that's what like we had it on at a hospital I worked at. But it's always like, yeah, I don't know, it can be awkward. But thank goodness we can get quick access to interpreters when we need them. But yes, it's a little awkward.

SPEAKER_00 43:31

Yes. Oh MG.

SPEAKER_03 43:34

Well, uh, I guess you know you've had some time off. I have. You had you had me, and then it was Shannon, and then me twice. So I really don't have it. So uh what are we gonna hear about?

SPEAKER_00 43:49

Oh my gosh, it's my turn, and boy, is it my turn. So thank you to you and Shannon for holding up your end while I moved into the woods with the bears. Um you had a pretty big move. I did. And we'll say that our next episode is going to be a little surprise, and it is at the request of Jillian Tanell, our newest sponsor, who had a story request. So that's what happens when you support our show. And if you click on support link, support us link, you'll also be able to pick an episode topic and support us so that we can continue to do what we're doing. Anyway, it's a doozy of a case, so you're gonna wanna you're gonna wanna tune in.

SPEAKER_03 44:36

I can't wait. I I have no idea. I'm in the same boat as you guys have no idea what's going on. I want to know. I want to know.

SPEAKER_00 44:43

I'll give you a hint. It's not about it's not about a bear. Oh god. So I thought you were gonna say it has to do with medical. Something medical, yes. Uh health, true crime in healthcare, because that's what we're all about. But you meanwhile, until you join us again, don't miss a beat. Subscribe or follow Doctoring the Truth wherever you enjoy your podcasts for stories that shock, intrigue, and edemicate. Trust, after all, is a delicate thing. You can text us directly on our website at Doctoringthe Truth at Buzzsprout.com. Email us your story ideas at Doctoringthe Truth at Gmail, and be sure to follow us on Instagram at Doctoring the Truth Podcast and on Facebook at Doctoring the Truth. We're also on TikTok at Doctoring the Truth and Ed Odd Pod E-D A U D P O D. Don't forget to download, rate, and review. You guys, I can't even emphasize this enough. We would love you to spend your money sponsoring us, but also but honestly, if you were downloading and rating and reviewing us, it means millions. So please do that. Take a second, review us. Only only if it's five stars. Otherwise, just you know, you don't need to. But we want to be able to bring you more content. So stay safe until then and stay. Okay, bye.