Berlin verdict due in trial of doctor accused of killing 15 patients

A Berlin court is set to deliver a verdict on Wednesday in the trial of a palliative care doctor accused of killing 15 patients between 2021 and 2024. Prosecutors have described the suspect as having “a lust for murder” and have demanded a life sentence.

Who is on trial and what prosecutors say

The accused is a 41-year-old Berlin doctor identified in court documents only as Johannes M. Prosecutors say he is alleged to have killed 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024 by administering combinations of sedatives that included an anaesthetic and a muscle relaxant which, prosecutors say, “paralysed the respiratory muscles, leading to respiratory arrest and death within minutes.”

Authorities say the victims were aged between 25 and 94 and were receiving care at the time. Prosecutors told the court the accused appeared to have committed the killings for no motive other than the act itself.

Arson, an alleged double killing and growing probe

Prosecutors say the doctor set fire to victims’ apartments on at least five occasions in attempts to conceal the killings. On one day the morning of July 8, 2024 he is accused of killing two patients: a 75-year-old man at his home in the central Berlin district of Kreuzberg and, hours later, a 76-year-old woman in neighbouring Neukoelln. Prosecutors said his attempt to incinerate one crime scene failed when the fire did not catch.

Suspicions were first raised by care services, prompting a police investigation. The suspect was remanded in custody in August 2024. Investigators initially examined four cases, but the number of suspicious deaths continued to grow; authorities say they are still investigating dozens of other deaths possibly linked to the accused.

Confession, demands and sentencing hearing

On Monday the defendant told the court he had “killed people” and said, according to reporting in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “I despair at myself” and that he now understood “the extent of the suffering” he had caused.

Prosecutors have demanded a life sentence, additional steps to make early release less likely and a lifetime ban from practising medicine. The verdict and any sentence are expected at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT) at the Berlin Regional Court.

Wider resonance in Germany

German media report that Johannes M. wrote his doctoral thesis on homicides and began the paper with the words “Why do people kill?” The case has drawn comparisons in Germany to past medical and nursing murders, including the case of nurse Niels Hoegel and a palliative care nurse recently sentenced for multiple killings, both cited during reporting on the trial.

What remains unclear

Authorities say the probe is ongoing and that further cases remain under investigation.