Marie Fikácková
Encyclopedia
Marie Fikáčková was a Czech
serial killer
.
al family and her marriage had failed. She worked as a nurse in the hospital in Sušice
, in its obstetrics
department.
The hospital lacked properly functioning supervision mechanisms to deal with the deaths of newborns, and the murders were discovered only by chance. No responsible physician or administrator was charged before the court or even demoted, and the whole affair was kept secret for decades.
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
.
Early life
Fikáčková grew up in a dysfunctionDysfunction
Dysfunction can refer to:* Abnormality * Dysfunctional family* Sexual dysfunction* Dysfunction , an album by the rock band Staind...
al family and her marriage had failed. She worked as a nurse in the hospital in Sušice
Sušice
Sušice is a town in the Pilsen Region of the Czech Republic. It lies on the Otava River, some to the south of the regional capital of Pilsen.Sušice is also the seat of the Municipality with Extended Competence and with Commissioned Local Authority....
, in its obstetrics
Obstetrics
Obstetrics is the medical specialty dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children during pregnancy , childbirth and the postnatal period...
department.
Murders
In 1960 she was taken into custody and accused of the murder of a newborn. During investigation she confessed to killing at least 10 newborn babies since 1957. She beat her victims around the head, causing them to die within hours or days. The motive for the murders was never fully explained. Before the court Fikáčková was charged with only two murders, as it was not possible to prove the older killings.The hospital lacked properly functioning supervision mechanisms to deal with the deaths of newborns, and the murders were discovered only by chance. No responsible physician or administrator was charged before the court or even demoted, and the whole affair was kept secret for decades.