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German nurse gets life sentence for killing 10 patients to ease workload at night
Prosecutors said the nurse injected mostly elderly and terminally ill patients with sedatives so he would not have to care for them through the night.
A palliative care nurse in Germany has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering 10 patients and attempting to kill 27 others in order to ease his workload during night shifts.
According to a report by the BBC, the nurse, whose identity has not been made public, was convicted by a court in Aachen. The crimes took place between December 2023 and May 2024 at a hospital in Wuerselen, western Germany.
Prosecutors said the 44-year-old nurse injected mostly elderly and terminally ill patients with excessive doses of morphine and midazolam, a type of sedative, so he would not have to care for them through the night. They alleged he showed "irritation" and a lack of empathy to patients who required a higher level of care, and accused him of playing "master of life and death".
The court said that the man’s actions demonstrated “particular severity of guilt”, which should bar him from early release after 15 years.
(Also Read: ‘Fake nurse’ accused of treating over 4,000 patients in disturbing medical fraud)
Investigation ongoing
The nurse had been employed at the hospital since 2020 and had completed his nursing training in 2007. He was arrested in 2024 after staff members and doctors became suspicious of the unusually high number of sudden patient deteriorations during his shifts.
Investigations are still ongoing, with prosecutors confirming that several bodies are being exhumed to determine whether more patients were harmed. If additional cases are confirmed, the nurse could face further trials.
The convicted nurse still has the right to appeal the verdict.
The case has drawn comparisons to previous medical killings in Germany. In 2019, former nurse Niels Hogel was handed a life sentence after he was convicted of murdering 85 patients at two hospitals in northern Germany. A court found that between 1999 and 2005, he administered lethal doses of heart medication to people in his care.
