A court in western Germany has sentenced a palliative care nurse to life in prison for murdering 10 of his patients and trying to kill 27 others.
The man, whose name has not been made public, was found guilty of injecting his mostly elderly patients with morphine or sedatives to ease his workload during night shifts. The killings took place between December 2023 and May 2024 at a hospital in the town of Wuerselen, in western Germany.
Prosecutors told the Aachen court that the nurse displayed “irritation” and a clear lack of empathy toward patients who needed extensive care, accusing him of behaving like a “master of life and death.”
According to AFP, prosecutors believe his crimes could extend beyond the confirmed victims, with exhumations taking place to identify potential victims, which could put the man on trial again.
The man began working at the Wuerselen facility in 2020, following his completion of nursing training in 2007. During his overnight shifts, he allegedly administered excessive doses of morphine and midazolam, a powerful sedative, to hasten patients’ deaths and lighten his workload.
He was arrested in 2024.
When delivering the sentence, the court ruled that his actions carried a “particular severity of guilt,” which will bar him from early release after 15 years. The convict still has the right to appeal.
The case has drawn comparisons to that of Niels Hogel, a former nurse sentenced to life in 2019 for killing 85 patients at two northern German hospitals between 1999 and 2005 by injecting lethal doses of heart medication. Hogel remains one of the deadliest serial killers in Germany’s modern history.