German authorities expand probe into nurse linked to dozens of additional deaths
Prosecutors in Germany have opened a new investigation into over a hundred cases that may be tied to a palliative-care nurse already serving a life sentence for ten murders.
German prosecutors announced on August 10 that they are reviewing more than a hundred suspicious deaths that might involve a palliative-care nurse previously sentenced to life imprisonment for ten murders and 27 attempted murders. The individual, partially named Ulrich S., worked at a hospital in Wuerselen near Aachen and was found to have injected elderly patients with high-dose sedatives to lessen his night-shift workload.
The current inquiry has exhumed almost 40 corpses and covers incidents as far back as September 2022, while a parallel investigation in Cologne looks at 18 additional cases going back to 2010. Authorities say the nurse also spent time at a Cologne clinic before his tenure in Wuerselen. The original court deemed his crimes of “particular severity,” blocking any possibility of parole after fifteen years.
Prosecutors expect that fresh charges could be brought against him in 2027. The case recalls earlier German nurse serial killers, including Niels Hoegel, who was convicted for 85 killings, and a Berlin palliative-care doctor sentenced for fifteen murders.
Why it matters
The expanded probe could reveal a far larger pattern of medical homicide, raising concerns about patient safety and oversight in German healthcare.
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