A German palliative care doctor has been sentenced to life imprisonment for killing 15 of his patients.
A court in Berlin found the 41-year-old man, named only as Johannes M. in line with German privacy rules, guilty of murdering 12 women and 3 men between September 2021 and July 2024.
The authorities believe these killings could be just the tip of the iceberg. Prosecutors are currently investigating dozens of other incidents involving the doctor.
His victims were between the ages of 25 and 94. The court heard how they were all critically ill, but that their deaths were not imminent.
Prosecutors said that during home visits, the doctor administered a lethal combination of various medicines without his patients' consent.
On several occasions, they said he set fires to cover his tracks.
In July 2024, shortly before his arrest, prosecutors said the doctor killed two patients in a single day - a 75-year-old man at his home in central Berlin and, a few hours later, a 76-year-old woman in a neighbouring district.
They said the doctor tried to set fire to the woman's house, but failed.
For much of the trial, which has gone on for about a year, the doctor said nothing. But last month, he confessed to having "killed people," twelve of his severely ill patients.
He told the court he had convinced himself that he was doing the right thing, sparing them "suffering and infirmity".
Source: BBC News, 8 July 2026
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