The "Skin Hunters" (" Łowcy skór " in Polish ) is the media nickname for hospital casualty workers from the Polish city of Łódź . The practice was widespread. Four people were convicted of murdering at least five elderly patients and selling information regarding their deaths to competing funeral homes, but almost every casualty worker was involved in selling information and it is claimed that many more were killing patients (directly or by slowing down the response/not doing due diligence). The price of the bribes paid to the killers was billed to the family of the deceased as an additional funeral charge. The perpetrators were apprehended in 2002. Their descriptive designation was coined by a newspaper article which first brought the story to the public's attention.
15-495: On January 20, 2007, four employees from a hospital casualty department in Łódź were sentenced. The perpetrators were shown to have killed mostly elderly patients using the muscle relaxant pancuronium (brand name Pavulon). The four workers then sold information about the deceased patients to funeral homes, so they could contact the relatives before other funeral homes could. They exacted bribes ranging from 12,000 to over 70,000 złoty . The killers are: Their sentences were upheld by
30-451: A bribe , and sometimes even killed patients. The dead patients were called "skins" and so the article was called "Skin Hunters". Łowcy skór ). The man originally told the journalists about this case is a well known head of a local undertaker emporium named Witold Skrzydlewski, who was despite originally helping the journalist's investigation accused of starting and expanding the system. He
45-706: A lethal injection in administration of the death penalty in some parts of the United States . Like all non-depolarising muscle relaxants, pancuronium has no effect on level of consciousness. Therefore, if the anaesthetic used is insufficient, the individual may be awake but unable to cry out or move due to the effect of the pancuronium. There have been several civil lawsuits alleging similar failures of adequate anaesthesia during general surgical procedures. These have been largely due to improper or insufficient dosages of anaesthetic in concert with normal dosages of muscle relaxants such as pancuronium. In 2007, Michael Munro,
60-491: A Scottish neonatologist at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital , was cleared of malpractice by the General Medical Council Fitness to Practice panel after giving 23 times the standard dose of pancuronium to two dying neonates . Terminally ill, both dying babies were suffering from agonal gasping and violent body spasms, which was highly distressing for the parents to witness. Munro then administered pancuronium to
75-399: Is about 120–180 minutes in healthy adults. The effects of pancuronium can be at least partially reversed by anticholinesterasics , such as neostigmine , pyridostigmine , and edrophonium . Workers at Organon were inspired by the structure of the aminosteroid alkaloid malouetine to develop a series of aminosteroid neuromuscular blockers based on an androstane nucleus, culminating in
90-460: Is an aminosteroid muscle relaxant with various medical uses. It is used in euthanasia and is used in some states as the second of three drugs administered during lethal injections in the United States. Pancuronium is a typical non-depolarizing curare -mimetic muscle relaxant . It competitively inhibits the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor at the neuromuscular junction by blocking
105-676: Is painless, or less cruel than other forms of execution. The United Kingdom bans the export of pancuronium bromide to the United States due to its use in lethal injections, but not to the Netherlands or Belgium. Pancuronium was used in Efren Saldivar 's killing spree. It was also used by the Skin Hunters to kill patients in the Polish city of Łódź . Pavulon was also used by Richard Angelo in 1987 to kill at least ten patients under his care at
120-522: The Good Samaritan Hospital in New York. Malouetine Malouetine is an aminosteroid neuromuscular blocking agent and antinicotinic alkaloid isolated from Malouetia spp. The structure of malouetine inspired the development of modern aminosteroid muscle relaxants such as pancuronium bromide and vecuronium bromide by workers at Organon . This article about a steroid
135-422: The babies after advising the parents that this would ease their suffering and could also hasten death. It was on record that neither of the children's parents were unhappy with Munro's treatment. Amnesty International has objected to its use in lethal injections on the grounds that it "may mask the condemned prisoner's suffering during the execution," thereby leading observers to conclude that lethal injection
150-662: The binding of acetylcholine . It has slight vagolytic activity, causing an increase in heart rate, but no ganglioplegic (i.e., blocking ganglions ) activity. It is a very potent muscle relaxant drug, with an ED95 (i.e., the dose that causes 95% depression of muscle twitch response) of only 60 μg/kg body weight. Onset of action is relatively slow compared to other similar drugs, in part due to its low dose: an intubating dose takes 3–6 minutes for full effect. Clinical effects (muscle activity lower than 25% of physiological) last for about 100 minutes. The time needed for full (over 90% muscle activity) recovery after single administration
165-760: The development of pancuronium bromide. Pancuronium is designed to mimic the action of two molecules of acetylcholine with the quaternary nitrogen atoms spaced rigidly apart by the steroid rings at a distance of ten atoms (interonium distance). Decamethonium and suxamethonium also have this same interonium distance. Pancuronium is used with general anesthesia in surgery for muscle relaxation and as an aid to intubation or ventilation. It does not have sedative or analgesic effects. Side-effects include moderately raised heart rate and thereby arterial pressure and cardiac output, excessive salivation , apnea and respiratory depression , rashes , flushing , and sweating . The muscular relaxation can be dangerous in
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#1733085521832180-526: The killers to the bills that the families of the deceased paid for their funerals. The scandal was first brought to public attention on January 23, 2002, in an article in the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza by Tomasz Patora [ pl ] , Marcin Stelmasiak and Przemysław Witkowski. They described how the hospital workers or paramedics would call funeral homes regarding patient deaths in order to receive
195-510: The seriously ill and it can accumulate leading to extended weakness. Pancuronium is not preferable in long-term use in ICU-ventilated patients. In Belgium and the Netherlands , pancuronium is recommended in the protocol for euthanasia . After administering sodium thiopental to induce coma, pancuronium is delivered in order to stop breathing. Pancuronium is also used as one component of
210-521: The Łódź Appeal Court in June 2008. Further appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court of Poland on October 27, 2009. The investigation into the scandal is still ongoing and a total of forty other members of the casualty department are under investigation, as are the owners of a local funeral home for receiving information regarding the deaths of patients. The funeral home added the cost of the bribes it paid to
225-514: Was the main figure in the documentary "Necrobusiness". His company still has a stronghold in Polish undertaking business. In 2003, a film Skin Hunters ( Łowcy skór [ pl ] ) was made of the case starring Piotr Adamczyk . In 2008, a documentary of the events, Necrobusiness , was made by a Swedish company. The Swedish novelist Arne Dahl also used the events as an inspiration in his book A Midsummer Night's Dream (2003) Pancuronium Pancuronium (trademarked as Pavulon )
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