Updated on: July 8, 2026 / 9:06 AM EDT
/ CBS/AFP
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A German palliative care doctor accused of killing 15 patients and described by prosecutors as having "a lust for murder" was convicted Wednesday and sentenced to life in prison. 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.Presiding judge Sylvia Busch said the conviction for 15 murders may well be only a glimpse of his many crimes.Prosecutors said during the proceedings that he was suspected of having killed more than 70 other people.The doctor allegedly "administered an anesthetic and a muscle relaxant to his patients without their knowledge or consent," the Berlin prosecutor's office said in a statement. "The latter paralyzed the respiratory muscles, leading to respiratory arrest and death within minutes." Prosecutors previously demanded a life sentence, additional steps to make early release less likely and a lifetime ban from practicing medicine.
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.
