Nurse jailed for life for killing 10 patients with lethal injections

A court in Aachen, Germany, has sentenced a 44-year-old palliative care nurse to life imprisonment for the murder of 10 patients and the attempted murder of 27 others through lethal injections.

The ruling, delivered on Wednesday, also declared a “particular severity of guilt,” meaning the convict will not be eligible for early release after 15 years—a possibility normally open under German law.

The offenses occurred between December 2023 and May 2024 at a hospital in Wuerselen, near Aachen. According to prosecutors, the nurse, whose identity was withheld in line with German privacy laws, injected mostly elderly patients with excessive doses of sedatives and painkillers to reduce his workload during night shifts.

“He played master of life and death over those entrusted to his care,” prosecutors told the court, adding that the accused displayed no remorse and suffered from a personality disorder marked by a lack of empathy.

During the trial, which began in March, the defense argued for acquittal, but the court found overwhelming evidence linking him to the deaths. The nurse was said to have administered morphine and midazolam, a muscle relaxant sometimes used in executions in the United States.

Prosecutors described him as unmotivated and detached from his duties, noting that he often reacted with “irritation” when patients required intensive care. The convict, who completed his nursing training in 2007 and had worked in several hospitals, joined the Wuerselen facility in 2020. He was arrested in the summer of 2024 following an internal investigation.

Authorities told AFP that several exhumations have been conducted to identify additional victims, raising the possibility of another trial.

The case has drawn comparisons to that of Niels Hoegel, a German nurse convicted in 2019 for murdering 85 patients between 2000 and 2005, believed to be the country’s most prolific serial killer.

More recently, another palliative care specialist, identified as Johannes M., went on trial in Berlin in July for allegedly killing 15 patients between 2021 and 2024.

In England, neonatal nurse Lucy Letby is serving a life sentence for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others—crimes that similarly shocked the medical world.