Blind Eye: The Terrifying Story of a Doctor Who Got Away With Murder

Praise for
Blind Eye

“Blind Eye
is a remarkable piece of reporting.”—Scott McLemee,
Newsday

“Swango’s odyssey is so compelling that I became riveted. I needed to know when and how he would be caught, and what ultimately happened to him.”—Dr. Robert B. Daroff,
The Plain Dealer
(Cleveland)

“Stewart has produced an extraordinary book.”—Steve Twedt,
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“James B. Stewart’s
Blind Eye
is a persuasive case against Dr. Michael Swango.”—R. Z. Sheppard,
Time
magazine

“The facts gathered by Stewart are compelling. [He] . . . persuasively dissects the medical establishment.”—Steve Weinberg,
Chicago Tribune

“Is
Blind Eye
worth reading? Yes, Jim Stewart’s books always are.”—Joseph Nocera,
Fortune

“Stewart tells a story that both grips and enrages . . . . Throughout
Blind Eye
, [he] shows how the medical establishment took the path of least resistance when it came to Swango. They didn’t want to know.”—Ray Locker,
The Tampa Tribune

“If Swango is guilty—and author James B. Stewart builds a persuasive case against him—Stewart also makes a strong argument that he must share responsibility with a medical establishment that let him move freely from state to state, from hospital to hospital, without warning or punishment.”—Dale Singer,
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“Best-selling author Stewart brings us inside the life of a killer who thrived in a medical establishment where doctors typically cover up for other doctors, where hospital administrators live in constant fear of litigation, and where regulatory agencies don’t share crucial information . . . . Stewart writes skillfully.”—
Kirkus Reviews

Thank you for purchasing this Simon & Schuster eBook.

Join our mailing list and get updates on new releases, deals, bonus content and other great books from Simon & Schuster.

C
LICK
H
ERE
T
O
S
IGN
U
P

or visit us online to sign up at
eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com

CONTENTS

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Epilogue

Acknowledgments

Photographs

About the Author

Notes on Sources

Endnotes

Index

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Michael Swango, M.D.

M
URIEL
S
WANGO
, his mother

J
OHN
V
IRGIL
S
WANGO
, his father

R
OBERT
S
WANGO
, his brother

J
OHN
S
WANGO
, his brother

R
ICHARD
K
ERKERING
, his half brother

R
UTH
M
ILLER
, his aunt

L
OUISE
S
CHARF
, his aunt

At Southern Illinois University

J
AMES
R
OSENTHAL
, medical student

k
EVIN
S
WEENEY
, medical student

D
AVID
C
HAPMAN
, medical student

D
R
. M
ARK
Z
AWODNIAK
, medical resident

D
R
. K
ATHLEEN
O’C
ONNOR
, medical resident

D
R
. J
OHN
M
URPHY
, P
ROFESSOR OF
pathology and toxicology

D
R
. L
YLE
W
ACASER
, part-time professor of neurosurgery

D
R
. W
ILLIAM
R
ODDICK
, chairman, department of obstetrics and gynecology

R
ICHARD
M
OY
, dean of the School of Medicine

At Ohio State University

E
DWARD
J
ENNINGS
, president

D
R
. M
ANUEL
T
ZAGOURNIS
, university vice president, health services, and dean of the College of Medicine

R
ICHARD
J
ACKSON
, university vice president, business and finance

D
R
. M
ICHAEL
W
HITCOMB
, medical director, Ohio State University Hospitals

D
R
. L
ARRY
C
AREY
, chief, department of surgery

D
R
. W
ILLIAM
H
UNT
, director, department of neurosurgery

D
R
. J
OSEPH
G
OODMAN
, professor of neurosurgery

D
R
. R
EES
F
REEMAN
, chief resident, neurosurgery

D
ONALD
C
RAMP
, executive director, Ohio State University Hospitals

D
ONALD
B
OYANOWSKI
, associate executive director, business and finance

C
HARLES
G
AMBS
, assistant vice president, university public safety

J
AN
D
ICKSON
, R.N., associate executive director/nursing

A
MY
M
OORE
, R.N., head nurse

A
NNE
R
ITCHIE
, R.N.

R
ITA
D
UMAS
, R.N.

K
AROLYN
T
YRRELL
B
EERY
, student nurse

J
OE
R
LSLEY
, nurse’s aide

I
WONIA
U
TZ
, patient

R
ENA
C
OOPER
, patient

R
OBERT
H
OLDER
, associate attorney general, State of Ohio

A
LPHONSE
C
INCIONE
, partner, Butler, Cincione, DiCuccio, and Barnhart

In Quincy, Illinois

M
ARK
K
RZYSTOFCZYK
, paramedic

G
REG
M
YERS
, paramedic

B
RENT
U
NMISIG
, paramedic

L
ONNIE
L
ONG
, chief paramedic

D
ENNIS
C
ASHMAN
, judge, Eighth Judicial Circuit

C
HET
V
AHLE
, assistant state’s attorney, Adams County

R
OBERT
N
ALL
, sheriff

C
HARLES
G
RUBER
, chief of police

W
AYNE
J
OHNSON
, coroner

D
AN
C
OOK
, attorney

In Columbus, Ohio

M
ICHAEL
M
ILLER
, prosecuting attorney, Franklin County

E
DWARD
M
ORGAN
, assistant prosecuting attorney

P
ETER
H
ERDT
, chief of police, Ohio State University

B
RUCE
A
NDERSON
, police officer

R
ICHARD
H
ARP
, police officer

C
HARLES
E
LEY
, investigator, Ohio State Medical Board

J
AMES
M
EEKS
, dean of the College of Law, Ohio State University

In Newport News, Virginia

K
RISTIN
K
INNEY
, R.N.

S
HARON
C
OOPER
, her mother

A
L
C
OOPER
, her stepfather

In Sioux Falls, South Dakota

D
R
. R
OBERT
T
ALLEY
, dean of the University of South Dakota School of Medicine

D
R
. A
NTHONY
S
ALEM
, professor of internal medicine and director of the residency program

L
ISA
F
LINN
, R.N.

V
ERN
C
OOK
, hospital administrator

At the State University of New York-Stony Brook, Long Island

D
R
. J
ORDAN
C
OHEN
, dean of the School of Medicine

D
R
. A
LAN
M
ILLER
, professor of psychiatry, director of the psychiatric residency program

B
ARRON
H
ARRIS
, patient

E
LSIE
H
ARRIS
, his wife

D
OMINIC
B
UFFALINO
, patient

T
ERESA
B
UFFALINO
, his wife

In the Republic of Zimbabwe

H
OWARD
M
POFU
, director of hospitals, Evangelical Lutheran church

D
R
. D
AVIS
D
HLAKAMA
, medical director, Midlands province

D
R
. N
ABOTH
C
HAIBVA
, superintendent, Mpilo Hospital, Bulawayo

D
R
. I
AN
L
ORIMER
, resident

D
R
. C
HRISTOPHER
Z
SHIRI
, director, Mnene Mission Hospital

K
ENEAS
M
ZEZEWA
, patient

V
IRGINIA
S
IBANDA
, patient

P. C. C
HAKARISA
, superintendent, Zimbabwe Republic police

D
AVID
C
OLTART
, attorney, Webb, Low & Barry, Bulawayo

L
YNETTE
O’H
ARE
, landlady

M
ARY
C
HIMWE
, her servant

E
LIZABETH
K
EREDO
, her servant

J
OANNA
D
ALY
, housewife

I observe the physician with the same diligence as he the disease.

—J
OHN
D
ONNE
(1572–1631)

PROLOGUE

K
ENEAS
M
ZEZEWA
had dozed off for a nap that May afternoon, but was awakened at about two
P.M
. when he felt someone removing his loose-fitting pajama trousers. He lifted his head, still a bit groggy from sleep, and saw that it was Dr. Mike. The handsome American doctor had a syringe in his hand, and seemed about to give him an injection, so Mzezewa, eager to help, pulled down his trousers and turned on his side. Then the doctor plunged the unusually large needle into his right buttock. Mzezewa saw that after he finished the injection, the doctor concealed the used syringe in the pocket of his white medical coat.

“Good-bye,” Dr. Mike said softly, pausing briefly to look back at Mzezewa.

Then he left the hospital ward.

H
OWARD
M
POFU
, the director of hospitals for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe, liked the new doctor the minute he met him, in November 1994, when he picked him up at the Bulawayo city airport. Michael Swango looked like the American athletes Mpofu had seen on television. He was blond and blue-eyed, taller than Mpofu, with a ready smile. According to the résumé the church had received, he was forty years old, but he looked younger. Mpofu tried to help Swango with his duffel bags, but the doctor wouldn’t hear of it. He quickly hoisted the heavy bags and insisted on carrying them to the car himself.