A German palliative care doctor was sentenced to life in prison for killing 15 of his patients.

A Berlin court found the 41-year-old man – identified only as Johannes M. in compliance with German privacy rules – guilty of the murder of 12 women and 3 men between September 2021 and July 2024.

Authorities believe these deaths could be just the tip of the iceberg; Prosecutors are currently investigating dozens of other incidents involving the doctor.

His victims ranged in age from 25 to 94 years old. During the trial it was stated that, although all of them suffered from serious illnesses, their death was not imminent.

Assisted death

The prosecution claimed that during home visits, the doctor administered a lethal combination of various medications without his patients' consent.

On several occasions he would have set fires to cover up his crimes.

In July 2024, shortly before his arrest, the prosecution indicated that the doctor murdered two patients in a single day: a 75-year-old man at his home in the center of Berlin and, a few hours later, a 76-year-old woman in a neighboring district.

He added that the doctor tried to set the woman's house on fire, but failed.

For much of the trial, which lasted about a year, the doctor was silent.

But last month, he confessed to “killing” 12 of his seriously ill patients.

He testified in court that he had convinced himself that he was doing the right thing, sparing them “suffering and illness.”

“All this time, I thought it was the best for all of them,” he said.

He added that he apologized for all the suffering he had caused.

serial killer

Authorities suspect he killed more patients. The prosecutor's office is currently investigating another 76 cases.

German media indicate that, if these new cases are confirmed and he is found guilty, it would be one of the largest episodes of serial murders in German history.

The doctor declared in court that he would participate “much more actively in the upcoming procedures.”

In an earlier phase of the trial, the victims' relatives expressed in court that they still could not believe what had happened.

The mother of the youngest victim, a 25-year-old woman who died in 2021, burst into tears. “She never said she didn't want to continue living,” he said.

The son of a 72-year-old woman who died in 2024 reported that his mother had plans to travel to the Baltic Sea with her sister. “My mother wanted to continue living,” he declared.

The court ruled that the doctor's guilt was particularly serious. He ordered his confinement in preventive detention after serving the prison sentence and imposed a perpetual ban on practicing medicine.