Berlin doctor Johannes M. faces verdict Wednesday for killing 15 patients. Prosecutors cited "lust for murder," seek life sentence.
(FILES) The court-appointed defendant’s lawyers, Klaudia Dawidowic (L-R), Ria Halbritter and Christoph Stoll wait for the start of the trial of a palliative care doctor allegedly accused of killing 15 patients with lethal injections, in the Regional Courtroom in Berlin, on July 14, 2025. A German palliative care doctor was sentenced to life in prison by a court in Berlin on July 8, 2026 for murdering 15 people with lethal doses of sedatives. (Photo by Tobias Schwarz / AFP)
A verdict is expected Wednesday in the trial of a German palliative care doctor accused of killing 15 patients and described by prosecutors as having “a lust for murder”.
The 41-year-old Berlin doctor, identified only as Johannes M., allegedly killed 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024 using deadly cocktails of sedatives.
On at least five occasions, he allegedly set fire to the victims’ apartments to cover up the killings.
Authorities have said during the trial they are still investigating dozens of other deaths possibly committed by Johannes M.
He stands accused of administering an anaesthetic and a muscle relaxant which “paralysed the respiratory muscles, leading to respiratory arrest and death within minutes”.
Prosecutors have demanded a life sentence, additional steps to make early release less likely, and a lifetime ban from practising medicine.
The verdict and possible sentence are expected at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT) in the Berlin Regional Court.
On Monday Johannes M. confessed that he had “killed people” and told the court that “I despair at myself”.
He said he only now understood “the extent of the suffering” he had caused, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily reported.
The victims, who were all receiving care at the time, were aged between 25 and 94 years old.
Arson to cover up murder
On one occasion, the suspect is accused of having killed two patients on the same day.
On the morning of July 8, 2024, he is alleged to have killed a 75-year-old man at his home in the central Berlin district of Kreuzberg.
A few hours later he allegedly struck again, killing a 76-year-old woman in the neighbouring Neukoelln district.
The suspect’s alleged attempt to incinerate the crime scene failed when the fire did not catch, prosecutors said.
Suspicions over Johannes’ M.’s activities were initially raised by care services, leading to a police investigation. He was remanded in custody in August 2024.
To begin with, investigators looked into four cases, but the number of suspicious deaths continued to grow, with further cases still being looked into.
“The accused appears to have had no motive for killing the people other than the act of killing itself,” prosecutors said last year.
According to German media, Johannes M. wrote his doctoral thesis on homicides and started the paper with the words “Why do people kill?”
The case recalls that of the German nurse Niels Hoegel, who was jailed for life in 2019 for murdering 85 patients.
In another case, a palliative care nurse was sentenced to life in jail in November for the murder of 10 patients and attempted murder of 27 others with lethal injections.
