By: Sunday Ameh
A German court has sentenced a palliative care nurse to life imprisonment for murdering 10 patients and attempting to kill 27 others in a shocking case that has horrified the country.
The court in Aachen, western Germany, ruled that the unnamed nurse deliberately injected his mostly elderly patients with excessive doses of painkillers and sedatives between December 2023 and May 2024 in a bid to reduce his workload during overnight shifts.
According to prosecutors, the 38-year-old nurse administered lethal amounts of morphine and midazolam — a sedative — to patients under his care at a hospital in Würselen, where he had been employed since 2020 after completing nursing training in 2007.
The presiding judge described his actions as exhibiting a “particular severity of guilt,” a designation that bars him from any possibility of early release after serving 15 years, although he retains the right to appeal the verdict.
Prosecutors told the court that the convict often displayed “irritation and lack of empathy” toward patients who required extensive attention, portraying himself as a “master of life and death.” His crimes came to light after a pattern of sudden deaths among patients under his supervision raised suspicions among colleagues.
He was arrested in 2024, and authorities have since ordered multiple exhumations to determine whether more victims could be linked to his actions — a discovery that may lead to additional charges.
The case has drawn comparisons to that of former nurse Niels Högel, who was convicted in 2019 of murdering 85 patients at two hospitals in northern Germany, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in modern German history.
Högel was found to have injected his victims with lethal heart medications between 1999 and 2005, allegedly to showcase his resuscitation skills when they went into cardiac arrest.
German health authorities and hospital associations have expressed deep concern over the recurrence of such cases, calling for stricter oversight and improved psychological evaluations for medical staff.
The convicted nurse’s sentencing marks one of the most disturbing criminal cases in Germany’s recent medical history, highlighting the deadly consequences of abuse of professional trust within the healthcare system.
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