Niels Högel: German ex-nurse convicted of killing 85 patients

[♥ Lily ♥]

Niels Högel: German ex-nurse convicted
of killing 85 patients

6th June 2019


Niels Högel gave unprescribed medication to patients

A former nurse has been convicted of murdering 85 patients at two hospitals in northern Germany and handed a life sentence.

Judge Sebastian Buehrmann described Niels Högel's killing spree as "incomprehensible".

Högel, who is already serving life for two murders, administered lethal doses of heart medication to people in his care between 1999 and 2005.

He is believed to be the most prolific killer in Germany's modern history.

Prosecutors said he attacked patients in order to impress colleagues by subsequently trying to revive them.

A former colleague told the German newspaper Bild that Högel was nicknamed "Resuscitation Rambo" because of the way he "pushed everyone else aside" when patients needed to be resuscitated.

On the last day of his trial, Högel, 42, asked the families of his victims for forgiveness for his "horrible acts".

"I would like to sincerely apologise for everything I did to you over the course of years," he said.


Christian Marbach tells the BBC it is hard to accept his grandfather's murder

Högel had been accused of murdering 100 patients in the northern cities of Delmenhorst and Oldenburg. Police believe he may have killed far more but the cremation of bodies had destroyed any possible evidence.

Högel had confessed to 55 murders and the court in Oldenburg convicted him of 85, German media reported.

Delivering sentence, Judge Buehrmann expressed regret that the court had not been able to "lift the fog" for many grieving relatives.

The BBC's Jenny Hill in Berlin says the case has shocked Germany - not least because senior staff at the two hospitals are accused of having turned a blind eye to unusually high mortality rates.

Högel's killing spree was stopped when he was caught in the act of administering unprescribed medication to a patient in 2005 in Delmenhorst. He was sentenced to seven years for attempted murder in 2008, but the families of his other suspected victims pressed for a further investigation.

At a second trial that ended in 2015 he was jailed for life for two murders and two attempted murders.

However, during that trial he confessed to a psychiatrist that he had killed up to 30 people.

Investigators then widened the investigation, exhuming 130 former patients and looking for evidence of medication that could have triggered cardiac arrest. They also pored over records in the hospitals he worked at.

Records at the Oldenburg hospital showed rates of deaths and resuscitations had more than doubled when Högel was on shift, German media said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-48539894

[♥ Lily ♥]

In 2017 a police investigation concluded that he was responsible for at least 90 deaths.

In November 2017, German prosecutors said that the number of victims was at least 106, with Högel admitting, in October 2018, to murdering 100 patients.

By May 2019, he was believed to be the most prolific serial killer in peacetime Germany with up to 300 victims over fifteen years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Högel

Amidst mounting suspicion that Högel was a serial killer, police launched a major investigation in October 2014, after which 200 suspicious deaths were identified. More than 130 bodies in Germany, Poland and Turkey were exhumed.

Police announced on 28 August 2017 that they had concluded that Högel was responsible for the deaths of at least 90 patients, including 6 for which he had already been convicted. Högel admitted to an undisclosed number of deaths but in most cases was unable to remember specific details, although he did not deny the possibility that he was responsible.

In November 2017, the total number of victims attributed to Högel was revised up to 106, with some suspicious deaths still under investigation. In January 2018, German prosecutors charged Högel with the murder of 97 patients and announced their intention to file charges against other hospital staff who failed to act.

On 28 August 2017, police said that Högel had used five different drugs, including ajmaline, sotalol, lidocaine, amiodarone and calcium chloride. Overdoses can lead to life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia and a drop in blood pressure, causing a rapid decline in a patient who is already ill.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Högel

[Harkonnen]

Does he have cauliflower ears