Latest news with #JohannesM
CTV News
9 hours ago
- CTV News
German doctor goes on trial for 15 murders
The 40-year-old palliative care specialist, named by German media as Johannes M., is alleged to have killed 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024 while working in Berlin.
The Guardian
14 hours ago
- The Guardian
German doctor on trial for allegedly murdering 15 patients in his care
Hearings have begun in the Berlin trial of a German palliative doctor accused of murdering 15 patients in his care using a deadly cocktail of sedatives and setting fire to many of their homes to cover up his crimes. Prosecutors have charged the 40-year-old defendant with '15 counts of murder with premeditated malice and other base motives', and are seeking a life sentence, which in Germany usually amounts to 15 years in prison. They aim, however, for the Berlin state court to establish 'particularly serious guilt', which would result in the doctor being detained on a preventative basis even after that sentence is up, as well as receiving a lifetime ban on practising medicine. As the trial opened on Monday, prosecutor Philipp Meyhoefer said the doctor had arranged the house calls with the intention of killing his patients 'without their knowledge or consent' using 'a deadly mix of various medications'. 'He acted with disregard for life … and behaved as the master of life and death,' Meyhoefer told the court. Two of the killings are believed to have taken place on the same day in 2024. Authorities are still investigating dozens of other suspected killings possibly committed by the defendant, identified only as Johannes M. in accordance with German privacy rules. He was arrested last August. The doctor worked for a mobile nursing service offering palliative at-home care to terminally ill patients. His alleged victims – 12 women and three men – ranged in age from 25 to 94, and died between September 2021 and July 2024. He is believed to have given his unwitting patients an anaesthetic and a muscle relaxant, incapacitating their respiratory muscles and leading them to asphyxiate within minutes. While all were gravely ill, none had been expected to die imminently. A suspicious co-worker called attention to the fact that at least five of Johannes M.'s patients had purportedly died in fires, leading authorities to open a criminal investigation. The Berlin prosecutor's office said another 70 cases potentially linked to the defendant were still being examined, including the death of his mother-in-law in Poland in early 2024. She had been suffering from cancer. The defendant declined an opportunity to address the court as his trial opened as well as a psychiatric evaluation. His alleged motive remains unclear. The trial is scheduled to run until at least late January 2026, with about 150 people expected to be called as witnesses, news agency DPA reported. Thirteen relatives of the dead patients have joined the proceedings as co-plaintiffs. The case recalls that of German nurse Niels Högel, who received a life sentence in 2019 for murdering 85 patients in his care with lethal injections between 2000 and 2005. Högel is often called postwar Germany's most prolific serial killer. The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report.
Euronews
15 hours ago
- Health
- Euronews
German doctor on trial for allegedly murdering 15 gravely ill patients
A 40-year-old German doctor went on trial in Berlin on Monday accused of murdering 15 palliative care patients under his supervision. Prosecutors allege the physician, identified only as Johannes M in accordance with German privacy laws, acted with "premeditated malice and other base motives." The accused, formerly employed by a private end-of-life care service, is said to have administered a fatal combination of anaesthetic and muscle relaxant to patients between September 2021 and July 2024, without their knowledge or consent. Most of the victims, aged between 25 and 94, died in their homes. Prosecutors claim the drugs paralysed respiratory muscles, leading to suffocation and death within minutes. The case is particularly grave, with the prosecution pushing for a "particularly serious" conviction, which would rule out parole after the usual 15-year term under German law. They are also seeking a lifetime medical ban and preventive detention. The indictment further alleges that the doctor tried to destroy evidence by setting fires in some of the victims' homes. He has been in custody since 6 August 2024. The patients listed in the indictment were all seriously ill, though their deaths were not considered to be imminent. So far, the defendant has declined to speak with a psychiatric expert and his lawyer has confirmed he will not address the court for now. The expert is tasked with observing the defendant's conduct and witness testimony in lieu of a formal interview. Among the most troubling incidents presented in court was that of a 56-year-old woman in September. Prosecutors allege the doctor administered the lethal drugs without medical necessity, then called emergency services and falsely claimed she had been found unresponsive. Though resuscitated and taken to hospital, she later died after the family agreed to withdraw life support. A sweeping investigation remains ongoing. Authorities have examined nearly 400 deaths connected to the doctor's past cases. So far, 95 have triggered preliminary investigations and 75 remain open. Five exhumations are planned as part of this extended probe. The doctor's own mother-in-law, who died during a visit while battling cancer, is among those still under review. Thirteen relatives of the deceased have joined the case as co-plaintiffs, and the court has scheduled 35 hearing days stretching into January 2026. As many as 150 witnesses could be called. The case echoes that of a German nurse convicted in 2019 of murdering 87 patients. In another separate case this month, prosecutors in Itzehoe, northern Germany, opened an inquiry into a different doctor suspected of multiple patient deaths.
RTÉ News
16 hours ago
- RTÉ News
German doctor on trial for 15 murders by lethal injection
The trial of a German doctor accused of killing 15 patients with lethal injections and acting as "master of life and death" over those in his care is under way. The 40-year-old palliative care specialist, named by German media as Johannes M, is alleged to have killed 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024 while working in Berlin. The doctor is accused of injecting the victims, aged between 25 and 94, with deadly cocktails of sedatives and in some cases setting fire to their homes in a bid to cover up his crimes. 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 organised "home visits... with the intention of killing" and exploited his patients' trust in him as a doctor, Mr Meyhoefer said. "He acted with disregard for life... and behaved as the master of life and death." 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 Die Zeit newspaper. The suspect was arrested in August, with prosecutors initially linking him to four deaths. But subsequent investigations uncovered a host of other suspicious cases, and in April prosecutors charged Johannes M with 15 counts of murder. Muscle relaxant A further 96 cases were still being investigated, a prosecution spokesman said, including the death of Johannes M's mother-in-law. She had been suffering from cancer and mysteriously died the same weekend that Johannes M and his wife went to visit her in Poland in early 2024, according to media reports. The suspect reportedly trained as a radiologist and a general practitioner before going on to specialise in palliative care. According to Die Zeit, he submitted a doctoral thesis in 2013 looking into the motives behind a series of killings in Frankfurt, which opened with the words "Why do people kill?" In the charges brought against Johannes M, prosecutors said the doctor had "administered an anaesthetic and a muscle relaxant to his patients... without their knowledge or consent". The relaxant "paralysed the respiratory muscles, leading to respiratory arrest and death within minutes". In five cases, Johannes M allegedly set fire to the victims' apartments after administering the injections. On one occasion, he is accused of murdering two patients on the same day. On the morning of 8 July, 2024, he allegedly killed a 75-year-old man at his home in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg. "A few hours later" he is said to have struck again, killing a 76-year-old woman in the neighbouring Neukoelln district. Prosecutors say he started a fire in the woman's apartment, but it went out. "When he realised this, he allegedly informed a relative of the woman and claimed that he was standing in front of her flat and that nobody was answering the doorbell," prosecutors said. In another case, Johannes M "falsely claimed to have already begun resuscitation efforts" on a 56-year-old victim, who was initially kept alive by rescuers but died three days later in hospital. No motive beyond killing Prosecutors said he had "no motive beyond killing" and are seeking a life sentence. Some 35 hearings have been scheduled through to early 2026. The case recalls that of notorious German nurse Niels Hoegel, who was handed a life sentence in 2019 for murdering 85 patients. Hoegel, believed to be modern Germany's most prolific serial killer, murdered hospital patients with lethal injections between 2000 and 2005. 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. Investigators are "reviewing" deaths linked to the doctor from the town of Pinneberg in northern Germany, just outside Hamburg, police and prosecutors said.
ABC News
17 hours ago
- Health
- ABC News
German doctor accused of murdering his patients and covering up evidence in fires stands trial
The criminal trial of a German doctor accused of murdering 15 of his patients in palliative care has begun in Berlin. The prosecutor's office brought charges against the 40-year-old doctor "for 15 counts of murder with premeditated malice and other base motives" before a Berlin state court. Prosecutors are seeking not only a conviction and a finding of "particularly serious" guilt, but also a lifetime ban on practising medicine and subsequent preventive detention. Murder charges in Germany carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. If a court establishes that the defendant bears particularly severe guilt, that means he wouldn't be eligible for release after 15 years. Parallel to the trial, the prosecutor's office is investigating dozens of other suspected cases in separate proceedings. The man, who has only been identified as Johannes M in line with German 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 August 6. 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. That number has crept higher since last summer, and prosecutors are now accusing him of the deaths of 15 people between September 22, 2021, and July 24 last year. The victims' ages ranged from 25 to 94, and most died in their own homes. The doctor allegedly administered an anaesthetic and a muscle relaxer to the patients without their knowledge or consent. The cocktail of drugs then allegedly paralysed the respiratory muscles. Prosecutors claim that the alleged victims experienced respiratory arrest and death within minutes. The doctor did not agree to an interview with a psychiatric expert ahead of the trial, German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported. The expert will therefore observe the defendant's behaviour in court and hear statements from witnesses in order to give an assessment of the man's personality and culpability. 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. The defendant will not make a statement to the court for the time being, his defence lawyer Christoph Stoll said, according to DPA. The court has initially scheduled 35 trial dates for the proceedings until January 28, 2026. According to the court, 13 relatives of the deceased are represented as co-plaintiffs. There are several witnesses for each case, and around 150 people in total could be heard in court, DPA reported. Among the cases now being heard in court is that of a 56-year-old woman who died in September. On September 5, the doctor allegedly administered an anaesthetic and a muscle relaxant to the physically weakened woman in her home without any medical need. Fearing discovery, he then allegedly made an emergency call and falsely stated that he had found the woman in a "condition requiring resuscitation," according to the indictment. Rescue workers were able to resuscitate the woman and took her to hospital, DPA reported. The indictment said that "in continuation of his plan of action and in the knowledge of the injured party's living will", according to which the woman did not want any life-prolonging measures, the doctor is said to have called one of her daughters and apologised for violating this will. With the consent of both daughters, artificial respiration was discontinued and the woman died on September 8 in a Berlin hospital. An investigation into further suspected deaths is continuing. 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. In 95 of the cases, initial suspicion was confirmed and preliminary proceedings were initiated. In five cases, the initial suspicion was not substantiated. In 75 other cases, investigations are still ongoing in separate proceedings. Five exhumations are still planned for this separate procedure, prosecutors said. Among the cases still being investigated is the death of the doctor's mother-in-law, who was suffering from cancer, court spokesman Sebastian Büchner said. Local media reported that she died during a visit by the doctor. In 2019, a German nurse who murdered 87 patients by deliberately bringing about cardiac arrests was given a life sentence. Earlier this month, German investigators in the northern town of Itzehoe said they were examining the case of a doctor who has been suspected of killing several patients. AP
