German nurse may have killed over 100 patients

A nurse who is already serving a life sentence for two murders may have killed more than 100 patients over several years at two hospitals in northwestern Germany, prosecutors said on Thursday.

Investigators have completed toxicological examinations on patients who died during Niels Hoegel’s time as a nurse in the hospitals in Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, prosecutors and police in Oldenburg said. They found a further 16 cases in which he is suspected.

In late August, they said they had determined that he might have killed at least another 84 patients beyond the ones for whose murder he is already serving time. At the time, they said that they were awaiting toxicology results on another 41 fatalities, which have now been concluded.

Prosecutors said in a statement they expect to file additional charges against Hoegel early next year. Additional convictions could affect Hoegel’s possibility of parole, but there are no consecutive sentences in Germany.

Hoegel was convicted in 2015 of two murders and two attempted murders at a hospital in Delmenhorst and was sentenced to life in prison.

During his trial, Hoegel had said he intentionally brought about cardiac crises in some 90 patients in Delmenhorst because he enjoyed the feeling of being able to resuscitate them. He later told investigators that he also killed patients in Oldenburg.

Hoegel worked at the Oldenburg hospital from 1999 to 2002 and in Delmenhorst from 2003 to 2005.

Prosecutors said he is now suspected in 38 cases in Oldenburg and 62 in Delmenhorst, but that in five of those cases further probes are needed.