Carer Assisted Serial Killing (CASK or “Quiet Killing”) [is] a phenomenon only receiving belated recognition while the ominous numbers escalate.
CASK was first described by toxicologist Robert Forrest; James Thunder suggested the alternative term of “Quiet Killing.” It refers to the murder of patients in health care facilities. This growing phenomenon, largely directed at elderly patients and children, is a reflection of the expanding institutionalisation of health care in a growing and ageing population. Their care is taken away from the family home and put in the hands of “service providers.”
Caring for vulnerable patients in an indifferent environment with easy access to potent drugs has the potential for a murderous carer to cause havoc. In the United States in 2000 there were over 33 million hospital admissions and 1.7 million residents of nursing homes; hospital employees numbered over 4 million and nursing home employees another 1.8 million. 2011 had special significance as the year when the baby-boomer generation reached 65.
CASK happens in hospitals or nursing homes because deaths are expected to occur and attract little attention.