{"id":50760,"date":"2026-07-08T13:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T13:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/50760\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T13:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T13:37:08","slug":"doctor-with-lust-for-murder-convicted-in-deaths-of-15-patients-in-germany-sentenced-to-life-in-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/50760\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctor with “lust for murder” convicted in deaths of 15 patients in Germany, sentenced to life in prison"},"content":{"rendered":"

A German palliative care doctor accused of killing 15 patients<\/a> and described by prosecutors as having “a lust for murder”<\/a> was convicted Wednesday and sentenced to life in prison.<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old Berlin doctor, identified only as Johannes M., allegedly killed 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024 using deadly cocktails of sedatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On at least five occasions, he allegedly set fire to the victims’ apartments to cover up the killings.<\/p>\n

Presiding judge Sylvia Busch said the conviction for 15 murders may well be only a glimpse of his many crimes.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said during the proceedings that he was suspected of having killed more than 70 other people.<\/p>\n

The doctor allegedly “administered an anesthetic and a muscle relaxant to his patients without their knowledge or consent,” the Berlin prosecutor’s office\u00a0said in a statement<\/a>. “The latter paralyzed the respiratory muscles, leading to respiratory arrest and death within minutes.”<\/p>\n

Prosecutors previously demanded a life sentence, additional steps to make early release less likely and a lifetime ban from practicing medicine.<\/p>\n

On Monday Johannes M. confessed that he had “killed people” and told the court that “I despair at myself.”<\/p>\n

He said he only now understood “the extent of the suffering” he had caused, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily reported.<\/p>\n

\"Trial<\/p>\n

As the murder trial against a palliative care physician resumed, the defense attorneys stood in front of the empty glass booth on July 8, 2026. The accused physician did not appear in court.<\/p>\n

Soeren Stache\/picture alliance via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Prosecutors and police\u00a0previously said<\/a>\u00a0that the accused is said to have had no motive beyond killing, and that the suspect’s acts meet the legal definition of “lust for murder.”<\/p>\n

The victims, who were all receiving care at the time, were aged between 25 and 94 years old.<\/p>\n

“Why do people kill?”<\/p>\n

On one occasion, the suspect is accused of having killed two patients on the same day.<\/p>\n

On the morning of July 8, 2024, he is alleged to have killed a 75-year-old man at his home in the central Berlin district of Kreuzberg.<\/p>\n

A few hours later he allegedly struck again, killing a 76-year-old woman in the neighboring Neukoelln district.<\/p>\n

The suspect’s alleged attempt to incinerate the crime scene failed when the fire did not catch, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Suspicions over Johannes M.’s activities were initially raised by care services, leading to a police investigation. He was remanded in custody in August 2024.<\/p>\n

Investigators looked into four cases, but the number of suspicious deaths continued to grow, with further cases still being looked into.<\/p>\n

“The accused appears to have had no motive for killing the people other than the act of killing itself,” prosecutors said last year.<\/p>\n

According to German media, Johannes M. wrote his doctoral thesis on homicides and started the paper with the words, “Why do people kill?”<\/p>\n

The case recalls that of the German nurse Niels Hoegel<\/a>, who was jailed for life in 2019 for murdering 85 patients. Hoegel, believed to be modern Germany’s\u00a0most prolific serial killer<\/a>, murdered hospital patients with lethal injections between 2000 and 2005, before he was eventually caught in the act.<\/p>\n

In another case, a palliative care nurse was sentenced to life in jail in November for the murder of 10 patients and attempted murder of 27 others with lethal injections.<\/p>\n

Last year, German police revealed they were investigating another doctor<\/a> suspected of killing several mainly elderly patients.<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n

\n Go deeper with The Free Press\n <\/p>\n

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