A palliative care nurse in Germany has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murdering 10 patients and attempting to kill 27 others in an effort to ease his workload during night shifts.
Prosecutors said the man, who has not been publicly named under German privacy laws, injected his mostly elderly patients with painkillers and sedatives at a hospital in Wuerselen, western Germany, between December 2023 and May 2024.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the man had worked at the facility since 2020, after completing nursing training in 2007.
A self-appointed "master of life and death"
During the trial in Aachen, prosecutors described the nurse as showing "irritation" and a lack of empathy toward patients who required intensive care. They accused him of acting as a self-appointed "master of life and death."
The court heard that he administered large doses of morphine and midazolam to patients during overnight shifts, leading to multiple deaths. He was arrested in 2024 after internal reviews raised suspicions about the unusual frequency of deaths in his ward.
When issuing the sentence, the court ruled that his crimes carried a "particular severity of guilt," effectively barring him from early release after 15 years. Now, he retains the right to appeal.
Germany's most prolific serial killer in modern history
Authorities are now conducting exhumations to determine whether the nurse may have killed additional patients over the course of his career. Prosecutors indicated that further charges could follow if more victims are identified.
The case has drawn comparisons to that of Niels Högel, a former nurse convicted in 2019 of murdering 85 patients between 1999 and 2005. Högel is considered Germany's most prolific serial killer in modern history.