A German palliative care doctor, Johannes M., has been convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of 15 patients. Prosecutors had described the 41-year-old Berlin doctor as having a “lust for murder” during the proceedings that concluded Wednesday.
Johannes M. was found guilty of killing 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024. He allegedly used deadly cocktails of sedatives, specifically an anesthetic and a muscle relaxant, administered to patients without their knowledge or consent. The muscle relaxant paralyzed respiratory muscles, leading to respiratory arrest and death within minutes.
In a chilling attempt to conceal his crimes, the doctor allegedly set fire to the victims’ apartments on at least five occasions. Presiding judge Sylvia Busch noted that while the conviction stands for 15 murders, this may only be a partial view of his many crimes, as prosecutors suspected him of having killed more than 70 other people.
Earlier this week, Johannes M. confessed to the court that he had “killed people” and expressed, “I despair at myself.” He reportedly told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily that he only now understood “the extent of the suffering” he had caused. Prosecutors and police previously stated that the accused appeared to have no motive beyond the act of killing itself, which legally constitutes “lust for murder.”
The victims, all receiving care at the time, ranged in age from 25 to 94 years old. On one specific day, July 8, 2024, the suspect is accused of killing two patients: a 75-year-old man in Berlin’s central Kreuzberg district, followed hours later by a 76-year-old woman in the neighboring Neukoelln district. An alleged attempt to incinerate the second crime scene failed when the fire did not catch.
Suspicions regarding Johannes M.’s activities were initially raised by care services, prompting a police investigation. He was remanded in custody in August 2024, with investigators initially looking into four cases, but the number of suspicious deaths continued to grow. German media also reported that Johannes M. wrote his doctoral thesis on homicides, beginning it with the question, “Why do people kill?”
This case draws parallels to other high-profile incidents in Germany, including that of nurse Niels Hoegel, who was jailed for life in 2019 for murdering 85 patients between 2000 and 2005. Last year, German police also revealed they were investigating another doctor suspected of killing several mainly elderly patients, and a palliative care nurse was sentenced to life in November for the murder of 10 patients and attempted murder of 27 others.
Updated on: July 8, 2026 / 9:06 AM EDT / CBS/AFP
