German nurse murdered 'nearly 90 patients'

(Baonghean.vn)- German police announced on August 28 that a male nurse, who was sentenced to life in prison two years ago for killing two patients by fatally overdosing on drugs, had killed at least 90 patients in total. This is considered the most serious mass murder in post-war Germany.

Niels Hoegel, whose face was hidden during the trial, was sentenced to life in prison in 2015. Photo: AFP

Niels Hoegel, 40, was sentenced to life in prison in February 2015 for the murder of two patients and the attempted murder of patients in the intensive care unit at Delmenhorst hospital near the northern German city of Bremen.

Police say investigators have since exhumed and examined more bodies, finding further evidence that the suspect killed more patients.

Speaking to reporters, police chief Arne Schmidt said the number of patients killed was “unique in the history of the German Republic,” and said Hoegel killed at random, especially patients in critical condition. The police chief said it was “indescribable” to see 90 patients killed, and that the number was even higher because there were cases that could not be proven.

Hoegel admitted to injecting patients with a drug that could cause heart failure or circulatory collapse, then attempting to save them, and if successful, being celebrated in front of his colleagues. He said he felt elated when he succeeded in saving a patient's life, and miserable when he failed.

More than 130 bodies have been exhumed and autopsied to find further evidence of the use of lethal drugs. The gruesome incident occurred in 2005, when a colleague of Hoegel witnessed him injecting a patient at Delmenhorst Hospital. Fortunately, the patient survived and Hoegel was arrested, and in 2008 he was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for attempted murder./.

Lan Ha

(According to AFP)