Berlin palliative care doctor gets life for murdering 15 patients

A Berlin court on Wednesday convicted a German doctor and sentenced him to life in prison for murdering 15 patients who were under palliative care. The court also backed prosecutors' request for a finding of particularly severe guilt and a lifetime ban on him practising medicine.

The 41-year-old doctor, identified only as Johannes M under Germany's privacy rules, was accused of killing 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024. Prosecutors had also alleged that he set fire to some victims' homes in an attempt to cover up the crimes.

Johannes M was part of an end-of-life care team at a nursing service in Berlin. He was initially suspected in the deaths of four patients, but prosecutors later charged him with 15 murders. According to German news agency dpa, the court found that he administered a lethal mixture of various medicines to the victims. The patients were aged between 25 and 94, and most died in their own homes.

Prosecutors said the doctor allegedly gave the patients an anaesthetic and a muscle relaxant without their knowledge or consent. The combination allegedly paralysed their respiratory muscles, causing respiratory arrest and death within minutes. After months of silence, he confessed last month to killing a dozen seriously ill patients during home visits, dpa reported. He said he had convinced himself that he was doing the right thing and sparing patients suffering and illness. At the close of the trial, he again apologised to the bereaved families, the report said.

The suspect was taken into custody in August 2024. He went on trial nearly a year ago at a Berlin state court, and the proceedings ran from last July through the end of January this year. A special team of police and prosecutors initially examined 395 cases. In 95 cases, the initial suspicion was confirmed and preliminary proceedings were launched, while in five cases it was not substantiated. Prosecutors said 76 other cases are still under investigation and another indictment is expected this year.

The life sentence is the maximum punishment for murder in Germany, and the court's finding of particularly severe guilt means the doctor would not be eligible for release. The case has drawn attention in Germany, where in 2019 a nurse who murdered 87 patients by deliberately causing cardiac arrests was also sentenced to life in prison.

With PTI Inputs