Overworked nurse given life sentence after killing ten patients to reduce workload
A palliative nurse was convicted on Wednesday of killing a number of people with lethal injections.
A court in western Germany has handed a life sentence to a male nurse, aged 44, who was found guilty of the horrific crime of killing ten patients and attempting to murder another twenty-seven at a hospital in the town of Würselen. The crimes took place between December 2023 and May 2024.
Prosecutors say the nurse, who was employed at the facility since 2020 and trained since 2007, deliberately administered large doses of sedatives and pain-killers, such as including morphine and midazolam, mostly to elderly patients during night shifts. His stated motive is what makes turns the nature of this case from startling to sickening: he wanted to lighten his workload by reducing the number of care-intensive patients on his watch.
In court, he was described as showing “irritation” and a notable lack of empathy when facing patients who required more complex or time-consuming care. The judge also determined that his guilt carried a particularly high severity, which under German law means he is unlikely to be eligible for release after the standard minimum 15-year term for a life sentence.
Exhumations have been performed to determine if there are additional victims beyond the seventeen known so far; the investigation is still ongoing.
The BBC report that he is “believed to be the most prolific killer in Germany’s modern history” and his case has reminded the country of a chilling precedent: the case is that of Niels Högel.
Högel was convicted in 2019 for murdering 85 patients in hospitals across northern Germany between 2000 and 2005, though investigators believe the true number could be higher. He injected patients with lethal doses of heart medication, later attempting to resuscitate them in order to appear heroic when he “saved” lives. His actions went undetected for years, exposing severe flaws in hospital oversight and accountability.
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For the victims’ families, the sentence may bring a measure of closure, yet the scale and nature of the betrayal clearly leave deep scars. The hospital involved is now under intense review, and authorities say further trials remain possible if more evidence emerges.
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