A German palliative‑care nurse has been sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for murdering 10 patients with lethal injections and attempting to kill 27 others, in one of the country’s most shocking healthcare crimes in recent years.
The 44‑year‑old, who worked at a clinic near Aachen, Germany, committed the offenses between December 2023 and May 2024 by injecting mostly elderly patients with high doses of painkillers and sedatives, including morphine and midazolam, prosecutors said.
He was found to have acted with “particular severity of guilt”, a legal classification in Germany that makes the standard 15‑year minimum term for a life sentence unlikely to lead to release.
Prosecutors argued the motive was chillingly mundane: the nurse allegedly administered the fatal injections to reduce his workload during night shifts, because he felt burdened by the demands of caring for palliative‑care patients.
He had been employed at the hospital since 2020 and completed his nursing qualification in 2007. Investigations have now begun exhumations and reviews of his previous employment to determine if more victims may exist.
The case has drawn comparisons to Germany’s earlier medical murder cases, such as the 2019 conviction of another nurse who killed 85 patients, underscoring persistent concerns about oversight in end‑of‑life care.
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