Berlin Physician Charged in Serial Patient Murders

In a case that has shaken the moral foundations of Germany’s medical establishment and evoked horror within both legal and healthcare circles, a palliative care physician based in Berlin has been formally charged with fifteen counts of murder. As reported by German press agencies, the 40-year-old male doctor—whose name has not been disclosed in accordance with Germany’s strict privacy regulations—stands accused of having committed a series of deliberate, premeditated killings over the span of nearly three years. These acts, according to the Berlin public prosecutor’s office, involved the intentional administration of lethal pharmaceutical agents to terminally ill but unsuspecting patients entrusted to his care. The murders are said to have taken place between September 2021 and July 2024, targeting vulnerable individuals aged between 56 and 94, all of whom were receiving end-of-life care from the nursing service to which the accused was affiliated.

The prosecution asserts that the accused physician, operating within a palliative care unit of a regional nursing service, acted out of “base motives and malice.” These motives—although not fully elaborated upon in the current procedural documents—point toward a psychological and moral deviation of such gravity that prosecutors are not only pursuing the maximum criminal penalties available under German law, but are also seeking a lifelong prohibition against the suspect ever practicing medicine again in the Federal Republic. The charges stem from a pattern of behavior in which the physician allegedly injected patients with a sequence of medications entirely devoid of medical justification, doing so without the informed consent or even the knowledge of those in his care. Specifically, he is accused of first administering a potent anesthetic induction agent, followed by a muscle relaxant. This combination, in the absence of ventilatory support, would have caused paralysis of the respiratory musculature, leading to rapid-onset apnea and death within minutes.

Adding to the depravity of the alleged offenses are the post-mortem actions attributed to the physician: in multiple instances, he is reported to have intentionally set fire to the homes of the deceased patients in an effort to obscure the forensic trail and hinder investigatory efforts. It was, in fact, the arson component of these early incidents that first drew the attention of authorities. The doctor came under preliminary suspicion in 2024, following the unexplained combustion of residences belonging to four deceased individuals under his care. This initial suspicion catalyzed a deeper investigation, which has since expanded dramatically in both scope and gravity, now encompassing a total of fifteen confirmed murders. There remains the distinct possibility that additional victims will be uncovered, as forensic teams continue to assess exhumed remains and comb through historical patient records.

The prosecutorial office has confirmed that it ordered the exhumation of several individuals previously thought to have died of natural causes, and that forensic examinations are ongoing. An investigative task force has been assigned the arduous responsibility of reconstructing the physician’s full patient history, identifying further possible victims, and determining whether similar pharmacological methods were employed in those deaths. Given the suspect’s mobility across multiple federal states—having been professionally active in more than one region of Germany—the geographic and temporal scope of the investigation remains open-ended.

Since August 2024, the suspect has been held in pre-trial detention. He has thus far refused to issue any public comment or plea in response to the charges. Whether he will continue to exercise his right to silence or eventually engage with the court proceedings remains unknown, though prosecutors anticipate a complex and lengthy trial process. For the families of the deceased, the revelations have triggered profound grief and disbelief, not only because of the sudden, violent nature of their loved ones’ deaths, but because those deaths occurred at the hands of a man professionally tasked with alleviating suffering and preserving dignity in the final stages of life. The case confronts Germany with an appalling inversion of the Hippocratic oath and raises chilling questions about oversight, ethical accountability, and the boundaries of trust in the medical profession.