Just a Matter of Time

When Dr. John Kappler finally killed someone, it should not have come as a surprise to anyone who knew him. For many years, the anesthesiologist said voices were telling him to hurt people. In 1975, he purposely drove his car into another vehicle on a California freeway. In 1980, the voices told him to give the wrong drug to a patient during surgery, resulting in cardiac arrest. In 1985, he was charged with attempted murder for turning off life support to another patient. Then, in 1990, he committed a fatal hit and run.

Join us at the quiet end for Just a Matter of Time. Dr. Kappler received multiple mental health diagnoses over the years, including major depression and paranoid schizophrenia. The numerous psychiatrists who treated him never treated him fully or effectively. They gave him medication, to which he quickly responded, and sent him right back to work. Despite his strange and dangerous behavior, none of the doctors who worked with Kappler ever reported him. Was Dr. Kappler powerless to the voices in his head, did he choose to listen to them, or did he invent them to prevent being held responsible for his actions?

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Sources

COMMONWEALTH vs. JOHN F. KAPPLER, JR., 5/5/1993.

Doctor Indicted in Hit-and-Run Case, L.A. Times Archives, 6/2/1990.

Murder with No Apparent Motive, Washington Post, 2/11/1991.

They Told Him to Kill, New York Times, Wendy Kaminar, 11/27/1994.

Without Mercy, The Shocking True Story of a Doctor Who Murdered, by Keith Ablow