Court in Berlin (archive photo): The palliative care doctor was sentenced to life imprisonment.Image: keystone
It’s about the deaths of 15 people, for which a palliative care doctor from Berlin is said to be responsible. Now a verdict has been made.
July 8, 2026, 4:08 p.mJuly 8, 2026, 4:08 p.m
In the trial against a palliative care doctor, the Berlin regional court announced a verdict on Wednesday: He was sentenced to the maximum penalty and therefore life imprisonment for 15 counts of murdering patients. The 41-year-old was found to be particularly guilty. In addition, preventive detention was ordered after the prison sentence and a lifelong professional ban was imposed.
The public prosecutor is convinced that the doctor administered a deadly mixture of various medications to twelve women and three men from September 2021 to July 2024. He set fires several times to cover up traces. The prosecution lists a 25-year-old as the youngest victim and a 94-year-old woman as the oldest. All were seriously ill, but their death was not imminent.
Surprising confession
After months of silence, the doctor surprisingly confessed on June 25th to having killed twelve seriously ill patients during home visits. He convinced himself that he was doing the right thing and sparing patients “suffering and infirmity,” his statement said. At the end of the trial, he apologized again to the bereaved.
His defense lawyers requested that neither the particular gravity of the guilt be determined nor that preventive detention be ordered following the prison sentence. The doctor did not act from base motives. He lived with the idea of alleviating suffering. A tendency to kill has not been proven.