A German palliative care doctor has been convicted of murdering 15 patients and sentenced to life imprisonment after a court in Berlin found him guilty of killing 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024.
The 41-year-old doctor, identified only as Johannes M. under German privacy rules, was also ordered into preventive detention following his prison sentence and permanently banned from practicing medicine.
The court found that the victims, aged between 25 and 94, were critically ill but their deaths were not considered imminent.
Prosecutors alleged the doctor administered lethal combinations of medicines without the knowledge or consent of his patients during home visits and, in several cases, set fires in an attempt to conceal the crimes.
Presiding judge Sylvia Busch said the 15 convictions could represent only a fraction of the suspect's alleged crimes.
Prosecutors are investigating 76 additional suspected deaths linked to the doctor, describing the convicted murders as potentially only the beginning of a broader case.
According to prosecutors, the doctor had no apparent motive beyond killing itself.
Authorities said suspicions first emerged after concerns were raised by care services, leading to a police investigation and his detention in August 2024.
The court heard that on July 8, 2024, he allegedly killed a 75-year-old man before later the same day killing a 76-year-old woman in another Berlin district.
Prosecutors said he unsuccessfully attempted to set fire to the second victim's home.
For much of the year-long trial, Johannes M. remained silent before later admitting that he had "killed people."
He also told the court, "I despair at myself."
Relatives of several victims testified during the proceedings, describing loved ones who had continued making plans for the future despite serious illnesses.
The court concluded that the doctor's guilt was particularly severe, resulting in a life sentence, preventive detention after imprisonment, and a permanent prohibition from practicing medicine.
If additional allegations under investigation are proven in future proceedings, the case could become one of the largest serial murder cases in Germany's history.