Former doctor charged with 3 murders at veterans hospital in New York

Swango walks out of a courtroom in this 1985 image

Was convicted previously in poisoning of co-workers

July 11, 2000
Web posted at: 11:18 p.m. EDT (0318 GMT)

In this story: Prosecutor looking at 'a number of suspicious deaths' Worked at hospitals in 3 states after conviction RELATED STORIES, SITES

GARDEN CITY, New York (CNN) -- A former physician convicted 15 years ago of poisoning co-workers who survived the attacks was indicted Tuesday on nine felony charges including murder in the deaths of three patients in 1993 at a Long Island veterans hospital.

Michael Swango, already the subject of a book about suspicions that he has murdered numerous patients -- "Blind Eye" by James B. Stewart -- was charged with killing three patients at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Northport with a combination of lethal injection and fraudulent "Do Not Resuscitate" orders.

	VIDEO
CNN's Frank Buckley looks at the past of the former doctor charged with murder in the deaths of three patients at a veterans hospital in New York QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

A "do-not-resuscitate" order, also called a "DNR," is a request by family members that a patient not receive any "extraordinary" medical treatments to keep them alive.

Asked for a motive for the slayings, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch told a news conference, "That's probably going to be the hardest question to answer."

George Siano, Aldo Serinei, and Thomas Sammarco were killed after receiving injections that stopped their hearts and no efforts were made to revive them, Lynch said. Federal authorities did not provide additional information about the victims.

Swango was also charged with assaulting another patient, Barron Harris, who survived an injection from Swango. Remaining charges all relate to Swango's attempts to cover up his past.

In all, Swango was charged with three counts of murder, one count of assault, and three counts of making false statements, mail fraud, and a scheme to defraud by use of wires.

Swango is also suspected in "a number of suspicious deaths," Lynch said.

Several publications, including the book and an article in The New Yorker magazine, have reported that Swango is suspected in more than 60 deaths around the country.

He was first suspected of murder just after his graduation from Southern Illinois University Medical School in April of 1983, according to the 17-page indictment released by Lynch.

As an intern working at Ohio State University Hospital he was investigated in the death of a patient but never was charged.

He then went to work at an ambulance service in Quincy, Illinois, as an Emergency Medical Technician, where he poisoned several of his coworkers with arsenic.

Swango was convicted of aggravated battery and sentenced to a five-year prison term, the indictment said.

Despite his battery conviction, he was able to get employment at hospitals in South Dakota, Virginia, and New York, the indictment said. He also worked at a hospital in Zimbabwe and had received a job offer from a hospital in Saudi Arabia.

Swango convinced administrators to hire him by saying that his conviction in Illinois resulted from a bar fight.

When he returned to the United States in 1998 from Zimbabwe before heading to Saudi Arabia, he was arrested on charges of giving a false statement to federal officials and possession of a controlled substance.

He offered a guilty plea to one count of making a false statement to a government agency and was sentenced to a 3 1/2-year prison term in June 1998.

He was scheduled to be released from the Federal Correctional Facility in Florence, Colorado, this Saturday.

CNN Correspondent Frank Buckley contributed to this report.

Hospital worker says he killed up to 50 patients
March 28, 1998

Veterans Health Administration: Health Programs and Initiatives
Do-Not-Resuscitate (DNR) Orders
Blind Eye : How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away With Murder

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