German Doctor Accused of Killing 15 of His Patients, Then Starting Fires in Their Homes to Cover Up the Crime, Goes on Trial
As reported by the Associated Press, the prosecutor's office brought charges against the 40-year-old doctor "for 15 counts of murder with malice aforethought and other base motives" before a Berlin state court.
The prosecutor's office is not only seeking a conviction and a finding of particularly serious guilt, but also a lifetime ban on practicing medicine and subsequent preventive detention.
Murder charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. If a court establishes that a suspect bears particularly severe guilt, that means he wouldn't be eligible for release after 15 years as is usually the case in Germany. While the trial is underway, the prosecutor's office is actively investigating dozens of suspected cases in separate proceedings.
Doctor's Co-worker Became Suspicious After Several of His Patients Died in Fires
The doctor, identified only as Johannes M. due to Germany's privacy rules, is also accused of trying to cover up evidence of the murders by starting fires in the victims' homes. He has been in custody since Aug. 6.
A co-worker first raised the alarm over Johannes M. last July after becoming suspicious that so many of his patients had died in fires, according to local newspaper Die Zeit.
Doctor Administered a Deadly Cocktail of Drugs to Cause Respiratory Arrest, Death in Patients
The doctor was part of a nursing service's end-of-life care team in the German capital and was initially suspected in the deaths of just four patients. The number of victims has gone up significantly since last summer, and prosecutors are now accusing him of the deaths of 15 people between Sept. 22, 2021, and July 24 last year.
The victims' ages ranged from 25 to 94. Most died in their own homes. The doctor allegedly administered an anesthetic and a muscle relaxer to the patients without their knowledge or consent. The drug cocktail then allegedly paralyzed the respiratory muscles. Respiratory arrest and death followed within minutes, prosecutors said.
The accused had "visited his patients under the pretext of providing medical care", prosecutor Philipp Meyhoefer said at the opening of the trial at the state court in Berlin. Johannes M. had organized "home visits, already with the intention of killing" and exploited his patients' trust in him as a doctor, Meyhoefer said.
Motive Not Yet Known, Patients were All Seriously Ill But Not Close to Death
So far, it is unclear what the palliative care physician's motive might have been, dpa reported. The victims named in the indictment were all seriously ill, but their deaths were not imminent. However, prosecutors and police previously said that the accused is said to have had no motive beyond killing, and that the suspect's acts meet the legal definition of "lust for murder."
Similar Cases in Germany
An investigation into further suspected deaths is ongoing. A specially established investigation team in the homicide department of the Berlin State Criminal Police Office and the Berlin public prosecutor's office investigated a total of 395 cases.
The case recalls that of notorious German nurse Niels Hoegel, who was handed a life sentence in 2019 for murdering 85 patients by deliberately bringing about cardiac arrests. More recently, a 27-year-old nurse was given a life sentence in 2023 for murdering two patients by deliberately administering unprescribed drugs.
In March, another nurse went on trial in Aachen accused of injecting 26 patients with large doses of sedatives or painkillers, resulting in nine deaths. Last week, German police revealed they are investigating another doctor suspected of killing several mainly elderly patients.
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