Listener discretion is advised, this episode features discussions of murder, medical malpractice, mental health conditions and sexual assault that may be upsetting.

We advise extreme caution for listeners under 13 once we've tasted the pleasures of success.

It's hard to escape the drive for more moments of ecstasy, however, are not only fleeting, but few and far between. The world is never enough, and we are always left wanting.

While most can curb the compulsions of their deepest desires for serial killers like nurse Jane Toppin, the urge to kill is insatiable. One death is never enough. This is Medical Murders, a podcast original every year, thousands of medical students take the Hippocratic Oath. It boils down to do no harm, but a closer look reveals a phrase much more interesting. I must not play it God. However, some doctors break that oath.

They choose to play God with their patients, deciding who lives and who dies each week on medical murders. We'll investigate these doctors, nurses and medical professionals. We'll explore the specifics of how medical killers operate not just on their patients but within their own minds, examining the psychology and neurology behind heartless medical killers. I'm Alastair Madden and I'm joined by Dr. David Kipa, M.D..

Hello, everyone. I'm Dr. Kipper.

And here to provide Allaster with some medical insight as we delve deeper into the case of Jane Toppin, a killer nurse, you can find episodes of medical murders and all of the podcast originals for free on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to stream medical murders for free on Spotify, just open the app and type medical murders in the search bar.

This is our second episode on Jane Toppin America's Deviousness with a propensity for poison. While Jane confessed to taking the lives of 31 victims, she acknowledged that there was certainly more. Her total victim counts is speculated to be well over 100. Last time we explored those first few victims, as well as Jane's traumatic upbringing, her troubling years in nursing school and how she poisoned her foster sister with sadistic satisfaction. Today, we'll go deeper into Jane's final string of murders, her scandalous arrest and the twists and turns of her criminal trial.

All this and more coming up. Stay with us. The Davis family auction house was a fixture in the picturesque community of Katamatite, Massachusetts. For years, the prominent Cape Cod rental property attracted tourists en masse. But now, in the summer of 1981, only family and close friends resided there. Harry Gordon paced the first floor parlor bewildered with grief. He had just lost his wife, Genevieve, and fear that he was about to lose his sister in law.

Many to something sinister, was decimating the Davis bloodline. And Minnie was the last one standing or rather couch ridden and hanging on for dear life. As Harry watched his 39 year old sister in law struggle for each breath, he noticed something peculiar. Whenever a 44 year old nurse, Jane Toppin, approached with Coco wine, many recoiled. Harry knew the two women had been the best of friends. The jolliness had rented one of the surrounding cottages every summer for the past five years.

Perhaps it was all in his head. As the wine trickled down from Minnie's pursed lips, the deathly ill woman fought desperately for her life. Unlike Harry, she might have known the bitter truth. Jolly Jane Toppin was poisoning her to death. This wasn't the first time Jane had poisoned in Tomate exactly two years earlier in a Davis family rental cottage. Jane killed her foster sister, Elizabeth Brigham, with a glass of mineral water laced with strychnine.

Riding high from Elizabeth's death in August of 1899, Jane likely found it difficult to return to her humdrum life while she had previously delighted in poisoning her patients. It's possible that Jane realized they were merely fleeting encounters with sexual thrills to reach her most potent climax. Jane had to poison the people closest to her and rob them blind, and there was always something to take. Consider Jane's next victim, 40 year old Myra Connors. Myra had secured a favorable position at St.

John's Theological School in Cambridge, working as the school's dining matron. She yielded a considerable level of status and power. Myra also received the fringe benefits of a spacious apartment and personal maid. In February of 1900, Myra called upon her dear friend Jane Toppin for medical assistance. The 40 year old suffered from localised peritonitis and has symptoms with dire. Myra's physician prescribed powdered opium and arrowroot to quell the pain based on her doctor's medicinal choices and what we know about localized peritonitis, Myra must have been in a lot of pain.

Localized peritonitis is the inflammation of a portion of the peritoneum, the membrane in the abdomen, the covers and protects our internal organs.

The symptoms are severe abdominal pain and swelling, and today it's managed with targeted pain medications, antibiotics and surgery. It makes sense that her doctor prescribed opium as this was the standard treatment for severe pain at that time. Prescribing arrowroot was also really popular in the Victorian era as a catch all treatment for bowel problems like diarrhoea and pain. Arrowroot is a plant and its root and stem contain a starch that people use medicinally. Some people claim that it really works for them, but the scientific backing here is thin.

Arrowroot is a supplement and supplements are not studied in the same way that conventional medications are. So there is no scientific data that backs up its efficacy. Baira must have had pretty severe symptoms if she felt the need to have a nurse by her side.

In addition to the Victorian era painkillers, Meira hoped a few days in nurse toplines care would do the trick. Jane was, after all, one of Cambridge's most successful private nurses, endorsed by the city's top physicians and most reputable families. But when the nurse arrived at Myra's Burnham Hall apartment, Jane felt a pang of envy, reminiscent of the years she lived in her foster sister's shadow. Just like with Elizabeth, Jane didn't want to help Myra. She wanted to take all that Myra had.

While the perks of Myra's profession were enticing to all, they were of particular interest to Jane. Since leaving the top and residence in her late 20s, Jane had bounced from dormitory to dormitory and from boarding house to boarding house. Always the transients and apartment of her own would have sounded profoundly appealing. To further tempt her was the promise of a maid, while being a private nurse afforded Jane a level of status. She was still in the business of service, from indentured servant to housekeeper and then to private nurse.

It was all the same. Jane looked after those in higher stations as St. John's dining matron. Others would look after her. Staring down at her sickly friend, Jane made up her mind with a strong dose of what was later thought to be strychnine, Jane relieved Myra Conners of her duties on February 11th. Nineteen hundred.

Following Myra's death, Jane presented the dean of the school with a tale of fabricated convenience ever the imaginative liar Jane recounted how her dear friend Myra wanted Jane to fill her place. Unfortunately, Jane was not prepared to handle all of the administrative duties required of the dining matron, especially when it came to finances. She was known to spend money as fast as she made it, and she was often behind on rent and owed many debts. Perhaps her poor accounting skills stemmed from the fact that prior to becoming a nurse, Jane was rarely paid at all.

She worked for room and board when grievances of missing and unpaid wages rolled in. Not only was Jane's competency questioned, she was also suspected of petty larceny. Although she denied these allegations, Jane was dismissed of her responsibilities. After departing Burnham Hall, Jane took up residence with Melvin and Eliza Beedle in Cambridge, Massachusetts. While Jane maintained a good relationship with the Beatles, her other landlords were not so pleased.

She had apparently evaded payment on her summer rental cottage in Katamatite for years, the same property she killed her foster sister in, despite the objections of her husband, old and Davis, 60 year old Mary Davis, known to all as Maddy, was determined to collect the rent Jane owed her. It was upwards of 500 dollars, a large amount at the turn of the century, and enough was enough.

So on June 25th, 1981, Maddy left the comforts of Jörgen House and boarded a train to Cambridge.

But as she walked toward the train, she lost her footing, Maddie tripped and fell in full view of a car full of passengers while she later recounted that her ego was the only thing bruised.

Her falls set into motion a series of events that left Maddie easy prey. After the nearly 70 mile journey Maddy arrived at the Beatles, Jane offered the exhausted traveler a moment of respite and a glass of wine yardie mineral water. The beverage, of course, was laced with morphine. When Jane and Maddy finally departed for the bank, Maddy felt a sudden spell of dizziness, she reasoned it was due to the day's arduous journey and the embarrassing fall. Determined Maddy pressed on, she was about to collect on years of back rent, but with each step, she weakened until Maddie collapsed onto the ground.

Jane carried the ailing woman back to the Beatles, only to administer another round of morphine to Madi Davis. Coming up, Jane decimates the entire Davis family. Hello, listeners, Alistaire here, it's the spookiest season of the year. And podcast network has many chilling surprises lined up for you, starting with its newest original series, a show that I host called Haunted Places Ghost Stories. Every week on Ghost Stories, I retell one of the scariest, most hair raising ghost stories ever imagined.

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Now back to the story, in June of 1981, a sweltering heat wave hit Massachusetts, but while 60 year old Madi Davis found shelter inside the Beedle residence, she was battling a far more sinister force than Mother Nature.

What was supposed to be a quick trip to Cambridge had turned into a living nightmare filled with perplexing ailments. Fortunately for Maddie, 44 year old Jane Toppin was one of Cambridge's top nurses. And despite evading payments on a summer cottage, Jane had grown rather close to the Davis family as such. Jane informed the Davis clan of their matriarchs sudden illness. By the next day, Madi's 31 year old daughter, Genevieve Gordon, arrived at the beedle home to find her mother unconscious.

When Dr. John Nichols arrived shortly after, Jane had concocted the perfect story against Jane's professional advice, diabetic Maddy had consumed a piece of decadent cake, factoring her fall and the taxing day of travel in the summer heat, her sugar level had to have spiked. To support this, Jane produced a urine sample altered to reveal a high sugar content.

Dr. Nichols considered the circumstances and quickly determined that Maddy was suffering from a diabetic coma in light of Davis, his age alleged diabetes and the exhausting hot day punctuated by a fall. Dr. Nichols diagnosis was actually pretty reasonable. A diabetic coma happens when a diabetic sugar gets dangerously high, causing him to lose consciousness. In Maddy's case, Jane was staging a coma that would come from a diabetic ketoacidosis with a diabetic ketoacidosis. There's an intense spike in blood sugar because of a diabetics inability to produce insulin.

This chain of events can ultimately and quickly result in coma without an immediate intervention. People in these comas cannot respond to visual, verbal or painful stimuli, which is very similar to what a morphine induced sleep would look like.

Using Dr. Nichols diagnosis as a cover, Jane, continue to poison Maddie undetected, author Harold Schecter writes, Jane took her time murdering Maddie Davis for the next seven days under the very noses of Dr. Nichols, Genevieve and the Beatles.

She played with her helpless victim, administering atropine and morphine in varying doses to produce a range of interesting effects.

Jane remained by Maddie's side, subjecting her to nothing less than torture. The atropine induced tremors, delirium and blurred vision, while the morphine often brought about a coma like state with her favorite blend of poisons and antidotes, Jane restored Maddie's health only to push her back to the brink of death. Over and over again, Madi Davis simply wanted to collect what was owed. But with the tenants like Jane Toppin, Maddy got more than she intended.

She died on July 2nd, 1991.

Following Maddy's death, Genevieve departed for her family estate in Katamatite to prepare for the funeral Jane. The ever devoted nurse followed shortly behind with Maddy's remains in tow. On July 5th, the Davis family and friends flocked to the auction house parlor to mourn the loss afterwards. The two Davis daughters, Genevieve and Minnie, remained at the estate to look after their father. Aldan while they both had families and homes of their own, the dutiful sisters knew he could use the company as well as some cheer taken by Jane's exceptional care of Maddie and Jolly Karisma.

The Daviss invited Jane Toppin to summer in their kids home at home rent free.

Jane played the part of a caring friend and capable nurse masterfully, so much so that no one ever noticed the new compulsion burning deep inside of her. 65 year old Aldan Davis smell the smoke wafting from his first floor parlor. It had been less than a week since he had buried his wife, Mattie, and now his home was on fire. Luckily, nurse Jane Toppin heard his cries and they managed to put out the flames over the next few weeks.

Jane started more fires in the Davis home, igniting the picturesque community with gossip. Perhaps an omnipresent evil was after the Davis clan may be a pyromaniac had found their way to Cape Cod. Regardless, no one considered the truth that the Davis matriarch had crossed the wrong woman, had Mattey not press Jane for five hundred dollars. Perhaps she would still be alive. But just as Mattie was determined to collect on rent, Jane was determined to ruin the Davis family.

And Jane already had sites on her next victim. Jane found a moment alone with 39 year old Minnie Gibs, the eldest Davis sister, and recounted a peculiar tale. She had seen Genevieve stare longingly at a box of insecticide, having been around death throughout her nursing career. She knew grief made people do the strangest things. Jane was worried Minnie was at a loss for words she never imagined that her sister would consider suicide. But it was clear Genevieve was distraught over losing her mother three and a half weeks after her mother passed.

Genevieve fell drastically ill, even though she followed nurse toplines orders and imbibed a glass of mineral water. Genevieve grew worse by the hour and died on the night of July 26, 1981. Family physician Dr. Leonard Latta attributed Genevieve's death to heart disease. Genevieve's father, Aldan, was heartbroken within a month, he had buried his beloved wife and daughter, still old and pressed on with life and travelled nearly 70 miles to Boston in early August. Sources vary as to exactly why.

But according to the Boston Globe, Aldan sought assistance to repair the fire damage on his property when he returned home to Katamatite on August 8th. Aldan was weathered from the long journey. Even though summer was winding down the East Coast, heat was unrelenting. So Jane offered Aldan a refreshing glass of Bunyard water.

On August 9th, two weeks after Genevieve's demise, Aldan Davis met the same deadly fate. While some believed Aldine died of heartache, Doctor Latter attributed his death to a cerebral hemorrhage. It's definitely interesting that Dr. Ladder labeled Alden's cause of death as a cerebral hemorrhage, simply put, a cerebral hemorrhage is a bleed anywhere inside the brain tissue or brainstem. Some symptoms include severe and sudden headache, muscle weakness or tingling difficulty with balance and speech at a loss of consciousness.

A cerebral hemorrhage and an overdose of morphine and atropine are similar and that they both have an acute onset and death is very sudden. Other than this handful of observable symptoms, there are no direct visual indicators. Without an invasive autopsy or modern imaging scans, it would have been really hard to diagnose Alden's cause of death as a cerebral hemorrhage.

Dr. Alattar was the family's trusted physician. So many Gibs took his diagnosis to heart. After Holden's funeral, 39 year old Bewley Jacobs remained in Katamatite to bolster the spirits of her cousin Menny. She had lost so much in such a short span of time. On August 12th, Bueler arranged an excursion for all the remaining Jiachen house guests, including many and her kids, Genevieve's widower, Harry Gordon and Jane Toppin, to prepare many for the rough carriage ride.

The astute nurse encouraged her to drink some cocoa wine, a common stimulant. But the wine was laced with morphine and had the opposite effect. When they returned home, Mini collapsed on the downstairs couch. Exhausted, Jane offered many another beverage. This time, Hornady water spiked with morphine and atropine. Later that night, Jane injected many with a syringe of morphine, knowing many was fighting for her life. Jane took Minnies, 10 year old son, to her own bed and cradled him tightly.

The following morning, Bula and Harry were heartbroken to find many worse than when they had left her. She could barely move, let alone breathe. Perhaps the day trip was too much for her well aware of Minnie's tragic circumstances. Dr. Latta believe the poor woman was simply worn out while he was away. He charged the dutiful nurse to fuel many with more cocoa wine. But as author Harold Shecter writes in her stuporous condition, many couldn't be made to drink any more drugged cocoa wine.

The concoctions simply dribbled from her lips. So Jane prepared a poison enema by dissolving a morphine tablet and a mixture of whiskey and water and administered it rectally when Dr. Alattar returned to find his patient at the brink of death. He asked his friend, Dr. Frank Parker Hudnut, for a second opinion. Perplexed by Minnies ailments, Dr. Hudnut administered rounds of nitroglycerin, digitalis and sulphate of strychnine. Many doctors must have been stumped by her condition, and they were clearly grabbing at straws, trying to find a solution.

Sulphate of strychnine prevents contracted muscles from relaxing. And in the nervous system, this causes deadly convulsions and seizures. In small doses, though, strychnine sulfate acts like a stimulant increasing the heart rate and was actually used in the past to enhance athletic performance.

Digitalis or dioxin is a medication harvested from foxglove plants, and these drugs contain organic compounds that increase the heart's output of blood by slowing the heart rate and increasing the force of the ventricles contractions. The slower heart rate allows more time for the heart's ventricle to fill with blood, resulting in a greater delivery of oxygenated blood throughout the body. Nitroglycerine belongs to a family of drugs called nitrates, which work by dilating the body's blood vessels, allowing for a better flow of blood and oxygen into the heart.

This drug combination was meant to induce better heart functioning, which would hopefully give many more strength.

Despite the earnest endeavours of Dr. Latza and Dr. Hudnut, many gibs died on August 13th, 1991. Dr. Latta attributed her death to exhaustion. However, 70 year old Captain Paul Gibbs was not having any of it while his son was away at sea, Captain Gibbs had watched over many in his grandsons. He knew that his daughter in law, many wouldn't let something like exhaustion be the end of her. Sure, she was mourning the death of her parents and sister, but she still had a husband and two children.

She still had a life ahead of her when many fell drastically ill. Captain Gibbs hurried to the Davis family home and noticed something rather bizarre. He saw nurse Jane Toppin inject Mini with a syringe. When he asked what she was doing, it was evident that Jane was hiding something to add fuel to the fire.

Harry Gordon revealed that during Minnies last few hours on Earth, she recoiled whenever Jane approached, almost as though she was afraid with Harry's account, Captain Gibbs was almost certain Jane Toppin had poisoned the entire Davis family.

But he had no proof. It was just the theory of a grieving father in law, that is, until Dr. IRA Cushing reached out.

The physician had run into Alton Davis the day he travelled to Boston and was shocked to hear of his death. The 65 year old widower seemed perfectly healthy as such. Dr. Cushing told Captain Gibbs that he believed Alton Davis had been poisoned with the physician's support. Captain Gibbs set into motion a series of events that would both figuratively and literally dig up the truth. Captain Gibbs Connexions ran deep, and by the end of August, he had secured the aid of Barnstable County District Attorney Lemuel Holmes, as well as the expertise of Dr.

Edward Wood, a Harvard medical professor with a specialty in toxicology. Almost immediately, a case was opened. D.A. Holmes ordered that the bodies of jenaveve Gordon and Mini Gibbs be exhumed for toxicology and also assigned police detective John Patterson to follow their prime suspect, Nurse Jane Toppin, wherever she went. Detective Patterson followed Jane to the top and family estate in Lowell, Massachusetts, back into the arms of 60 year old widower, or Amelle Brigham, where Jane to marry the local deacon, she would achieve all of her childhood dreams.

Not only would she have a family of her own, she would have it in the very Georgian's style home where she was once the help. Armelle had inherited it. After Jane killed his wife, Elizabeth Brigham, with Armelle all to herself, Jane was determined to win his love. She set into motion a devious plan just as she had poisoned her favorite patients at Cambridge Hospital to prolong her time with them. Jane poisoned Armelle to be able to take care of him with each morphine laced cup of tea.

Jane hoped that her warm affections would soften his heart. To Jane's dismay, Armelle wanted nothing to do with his deceased wife's foster sister. Brutally rebuffed, Jane threatened to tell the entire town of Lowell that she was pregnant with his child. Orimulsion did not give in to her baseless threat when he asked her to leave for good. Jane apparently attempted to take her own life overdosing on morphine. When that failed, she was sent away to a hospital.

Soon after, Jane found solace in the home of her friend Sarah Nichols in Amherst, New Hampshire. But while Jane was recovering from unrequited love, lethal traces of arsenic were discovered in many Gibs body. On October 29, 1991, four officers arrived at the Nichols residence with a warrant. Jane Toppin was arrested for murder.

Up next, Jane pleads insanity. Now back to the story. 44 year old Jane Topping could hear the train whistle from her second story window remanded without bail in November of 1981, the once transient nurse found herself locked in a Barnstable County jail cell for the murder of many gibs in Jane's eyes.

The prosecution had no case, while Dr. Edward Wood, the renowned toxicologist, had found lethal traces of arsenic in the bodies of many Gibs and Genevieve Gordon, Jane knew she was innocent of the charge. She had never used arsenic on her victims. What's more, Dr. Leonard Latta, the Davis family physician who had overseen Genevieve Alden and Minnies deaths, had recently passed away with no physician to contest Jane's story. It was all hearsay. There was no proof.

So Jane maintained her innocence, and her childhood friend and lawyer, James Murphy was determined to fight for her freedom, representing her pro bono.

The prosecution, however, firmly believe that Jane Toppin had poisoned the Davis sisters with arsenic. Besides the physical evidence, arsenic seemed like the most likely choice for a woman like Jane Toppin. Not only was it readily available, the tasteless compound was nearly impossible to detect.

Today, arsenic is recognized as very dangerous. At a high dose, it's a deadly poison. Arsenic kills someone by impairing the body's production of ATP, the energy carrying molecule that fuels the body's most basic cellular functions.

Without fuel or energy, the body's cells stop functioning, resulting in a process called apoptosis, the medical term for cell death. Interestingly, though, we continue to use it to treat a specific type of white blood cell cancer called acute myelocytic leukemia. In my career, I've actually had patients who've received this kind of treatment. The arsenic works in these leukemia cells by poisoning these cancer cells that are growing unchecked. Despite being a highly poisonous compound, arsenic in the Victorian era was found in wallpaper dyes and even skincare products.

Given how deadly arsenic is and how omnipresent it was at the time, it's not surprising that the prosecution team would build a case around the premise that they can use it to poison the Davis sisters.

But to build a clear cut case, the prosecution needed to connect the dots they had the dead bodies laced with arsenic and a suspect who knew how to administer the fatal poison. They just needed to prove that Jane had access to such large amounts of the toxin. Detectives scoured the local pharmacies for a pharmacist who may have sold the nurse arsenic, but they had no luck. Then the undertaker who had prepared the Davis daughter's bodies revealed that arsenic was a main ingredient in his embalming fluid.

All the bodies he buried were exposed to arsenic. Reeling from this revelation, the prosecution team redirected their game plan. D.A. Holmes and toxicologist Dr. Words still believed arsenic caused many and Genevieve's deaths. And so they theorized that James stole the poison from unsuspecting undertakers. They were, of course, floundering for the truth. Even Minnies father in law, Captain Gibs, found the prosecution's argument lacking a world traveler with an arsenal of life experiences, Captain Gibbs divulged to a Boston Globe reporter that he suspected that Jane had poisoned his daughter in law with a mix of morphine and atropine.

It was the only combination of drugs that could explain all of her perplexing symptoms.

Investigators were desperate for a new lead, and upon hearing Captain Gibs theory, they led an inquest re-examining the bodies of the Davis sisters in early November. This time around, Dr. Wood found traces of morphine and atropine given the time and practices of the early 1980s.

It's reasonable that morphine and atropine were drugs that went undetected in Dr. Wood's initial analysis at that time.

These tests were not sophisticated enough to identify these two specific drugs over the years. These tests have become more advanced, targeted and inconclusive when examining a death. A forensic toxicology report is preceded by the collection of blood, urine, tissues and other bodily fluids. Liver tissue is of particular importance because the liver is where the body metabolizes most medications and poisons.

Sometimes forensic toxicologists examine the vitreous humor, which is the clear, syrupy fluid inside the eyeball.

This fluid can be useful in detecting many different chemical substances and is often examined in relation to blood alcohol content. Once all these samples are collected, they're brought to the lab where toxicology tests run them through a series of tests.

These tests screened for a wide range of legal and illegal drugs that could be possible culprits in the death with the presence of morphine and atropine.

The investigators had a strong lead to redirect their case. And this time around, a pharmacy owner came forward revealing to officials that Jane had purchased a large amount of morphine despite Jane's plea of innocence. She was indicted for the murders of minicabs Genevieve Gordon and their father, Alton Davis.

In January of 1982, Fred Bixby joined Jane Toppenish, defense team, a sagacious lawyer. Fred knew Jane's chances were slim. So after convening with D.A. Holmes, Fred pushed for Jane's mental health to be examined in late March. A team of psychiatrists evaluated Jane in her cell. She initially remained steadfast in her innocence, spinning a tale of convoluted lies to clear her name. Over time, however, Jane confessed to poisoning at least 11 victims with cold flippancy by the end of March.

Jane was officially determined to be insane. On June twenty third, 1982, jurors found 45 year old Jane Toppin not guilty by reason of insanity and sentenced her to a lifetime at the Tontons State Hospital. The very next day, lawyer James Murphy escorted Jane to her new home while he worried for his childhood friend, the other cunning, Jane, was ecstatic about her outcome. She believed that after a few years at Taunton State Hospital, she would be deemed recovered and eventually released a free woman.

Several murderers had done the same. Why not her? Jane believed that she had played her cards right. That is, until senior legal counsel Fred Bixby revealed Jane's additional crimes. Although she had admitted 11 kills to the team of psychiatrists, Jane divulged other murders to her defense team under their counsel. She confessed to committing 31 murders. However, Jane also recognized the count could be well over 100 as she began her crimes in Cambridge Hospital and saw up to 50 patients at a time.

Even worse, Fred recounted Jane, saying, I have never felt sorry for what I have done. Even when I poison my dearest friends as the Daviss were, I did not feel any regret afterwards. While it's argued that Jane manipulated the three psychiatrists charged with diagnosing her mental stability, the Taunton medical superintendent validated their findings in 1983, confirming that Jane Toppin was indeed a psychopath. Despite maintaining her charismatic demeanor during her first years at Taunton, Jane's mental health eventually deteriorated into a state resembling dementia.

She was known to have erratic mood swings and lash out at other patients and staff. But the worst of her mental degradation started when she suspected hospital staff of poisoning her, afraid to eat. The once two hundred pound woman dwindled down to 80 pounds and had to be Force-Fed. The irony of Jane's downfall is not lost to the history books. The most ruthless poisoner in America now feared being poisoned. While it's believed that Jane overcame the suspicions, she remained at Taunton State Hospital for the rest of her life.

Jane Toppin passed away on August 17th, 1938.

An old woman, even though Jane Toppin was considered one of the most successful private nurses in Cambridge, we now know that her moral compass was completely out of line with the values of the Hippocratic Oath. On a personal note, Allaster, I have great respect for nurses and I'm sure my colleagues would share my sentiment. It's the nurses that direct US commerce and make us look smart by recommending the best treatments.

My first assignment as an intern was in the intensive care unit. I'd been out of medical school for only two weeks when one night a woman came through the ICU doors with a life threatening heart attack.

Doctors poured in from everywhere and finally stabilised her.

After four very intense hours after this, they all left, leaving me in charge. About an hour later, the patient went into atrial fibrillation, a life threatening heart rhythm.

I remembered from my training that I quickly needed to use to Jackson to convert her rhythm back to normal. But other variables and complications were making me uncertain about this call.

I knew that if this was the wrong decision, she could easily end up dead from my doing. Seeing my distress, the nurse confidently reassured me that my choice of digoxin was appropriate and by some miracle, the patient survived. The next morning, when that same group of doctors poured in again, I was looked at as a hero, but the real hero was the nurse. That was 40 years ago and I haven't forgotten it or my tremendous respect for nurses.

Angels of death have always haunted the medical field, but nurse Jane Toppin is undeniably in a class by herself. She will forever be known as one of America's most ruthless serial killers. Thanks for listening to medical murders and thanks again to Dr. Kipa for joining me today. Thank you very much, Alistar.

For more information on Jane, among the many sources we used, we found fatal the poisonous life of a female serial killer by Harold Shecter. Extremely helpful to our research. You can find all episodes of medical murders and all other podcast originals for free on Spotify, not only to Spotify.

You already have all of your favorite music, but now Spotify is making it easy for you to enjoy all of your favorite podcast originals, like medical murders for free from your phone, desktop or smart speaker to stream medical matters on Spotify. Just open the app and type medical murders in the search bar. We'll see you next time.

Medical murders was created by Max Cutler and is a PARCA Studio's original. It is executive produced by Max Cutler, Sound Design by Trent Williamson with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Carly Madden, Kristen Acevedo, Jonathan Cohen, Jonathan Rateliff and Erin Lawson. This episode of Medical Matters was written by Jane Doe with writing assistants by Maggie Admire and stars David Kepa and Alistair and.

Remember to join me every Thursday for the all new series, Haunted Places, Ghost Stories. Don't miss the most chilling spirits ever imagined by authors from around the world. Follow haunted places, ghost stories free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.