A German court has sentenced a 44-year-old nurse to life imprisonment for murdering 10 patients and attempting to kill 27 others with lethal injections in what prosecutors described as a chilling abuse of medical trust.
The ruling, delivered Wednesday by the court in Aachen, western Germany, concluded one of the country’s most disturbing medical crime cases in recent years. The unnamed nurse was found guilty of committing the crimes between December 2023 and May 2024 at a hospital in Wuerselen, near Aachen.
The presiding judges declared that his crimes carried a “particular severity of guilt,” effectively barring any chance of early release after 15 years — the usual minimum term before parole eligibility in Germany.
Prosecutors said the former palliative care nurse deliberately injected his mostly elderly patients with high doses of morphine and midazolam, a powerful sedative and muscle relaxant also used in U.S. executions. His motive, investigators revealed, was “to reduce his workload during night shifts.”
“He played master of life and death over those in his care,” prosecutors told the court, describing the convicted man as someone who lacked empathy, compassion, or remorse throughout the trial.
The court heard that the nurse often expressed irritation toward patients requiring intensive attention, working “without enthusiasm or motivation.”
Having completed his training in 2007, the defendant worked across several hospitals before joining the Wuerselen facility in 2020. He was arrested in the summer of 2024 after a spike in unexplained patient deaths prompted internal investigations.
Authorities have since exhumed several bodies to determine whether more victims may have died under his care, raising fears that the death toll could rise.
A Disturbing Pattern of Medical Murders
The case mirrors other notorious healthcare killings in Germany. In 2019, nurse Niels Hoegel was convicted of murdering 85 patients between 2000 and 2005 — a crime spree that made him modern Germany’s deadliest serial killer.
In another ongoing case, a 40-year-old palliative care specialist identified as Johannes M. went on trial in Berlin in July 2025, accused of killing 15 patients and setting fire to victims’ homes to cover his crimes.
Prosecutors say the Wuerselen nurse, like Hoegel, displayed narcissistic and psychopathic tendencies, enjoying the power of deciding who lived or died.
Internationally, the case also evokes comparisons with British nurse Lucy Letby, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2023 for murdering seven babies and attempting to kill six others at a hospital in England.
As investigations continue, German prosecutors have not ruled out the possibility of additional charges, warning that the full scale of the nurse’s crimes may still be unfolding.
“This case is another dark reminder,” one prosecutor said, “that even within institutions meant to heal, evil can wear a white coat.”
