Frankfurt palliative care doctor in court: murder of 15 patients discovered!

Frankfurt palliative care doctor in court: murder of 15 patients discovered!

In a sensational case, a palliative care doctor from Frankfurt will appear before the Berlin Regional Court from July 14th. He is accused of murdering at least 15 patients. The indictment makes serious allegations that could shake the entire medical community. Particularly explosive: The doctor, who has not yet commented on the allegations, is already in custody and must now face intensive judicial review. Loud FFH The process has already generated a lot of media pressure.

The accused doctor is said to have committed his crimes between September 22, 2021 and July 24, 2024 as part of his work for a nursing service in Berlin. The public prosecutor's office has also looked into the circumstances of his mother-in-law's death, which is one of a total of 96 suspected cases. This woman lived in Poland and died in early 2024 after a doctor's visit. Witnesses report that he said in a team meeting that his mother-in-law had been “injected to death”.

Horrifying findings from the investigation

The situation is not only worrying, but also complicated. “At least two more exhumations are planned,” said a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office, which is working intensively on the cases. A 66-year-old man, whose body was recently exhumed in the Protestant churchyard in Rudow, is probably just the beginning. The exhumation is intended to clarify the exact cause of death in order to determine the further allegations. The homicide investigation team at the Berlin State Criminal Police Office (LKA) is working hard on the case Medical Journal reported.

The public prosecutor's office has now opened investigations into 75 additional cases, indicating the extent of this criminal activity. The focus is on how the doctor treated the victims, including 12 women and 3 men between the ages of 25 and 94, with a dangerous mix of different medications without any medical indication and without their knowledge or consent.

The challenge of ethics in palliative care

This tragic case also raises important ethical questions. In palliative medicine, doctors are often faced with moral dilemmas, for example when deciding on changes to therapy goals or sedation at the end of life. The German Medical Association's principles on medical end-of-life care are intended to provide guidance, but the line between care and potential danger is often blurry. Ethics in palliative care includes reflection on human dignity, respect for autonomy and the prohibition of harm, as outlined in the specialist literature Springer.

The upcoming court hearings will therefore not only be a legal examination of the allegations, but also a deep insight into the ethical issues that affect palliative medicine. The affected families and society as a whole hope for clarity and justice in what is probably one of the most sensational cases in recent years.