A nurse has told a German court that he fatally poisoned more than 100 patients over five years.
Niels Hoegel, 41, is already serving a life sentence on charges of murder and attempted murder for deaths that occurred while he was working at two hospitals in northern Germany between 2000 and 2005.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Today, in front of a courtroom packed with relatives of the deceased, Hoegel answered “yes” when asked if the charges against him were accurate.
“What I have admitted took place,” he said.
Hoegel deliberately injected patients in his care with powerful medications which he knew would send them into cardiac arrest, “in an attempt to show off his resuscitation skills to colleagues and fight off boredom”, says CNN.
In earlier hearings, Hoegel said he got an adrenaline rush from trying to revive his victims and felt “euphoric when he managed to bring a patient back to life, and devastated when he failed”.
His deadly spree came to an end in 2005, when he was caught attempting to inject an unprescribed drug into a patient at Delmenhorst hospital.
However, a police investigation concluded that he could have been stopped earlier if the two hospitals had not “failed to report the disturbing increase in fatalities when Högel was working”, says Deutsche Welle.
He is believed to be the most prolific serial killer in modern German history. So far, police have exhumed 130 bodies of patients who died under his care, and investigators say it may be impossible to ascertain the true death toll, as the bodies of some potential victims were cremated.
Presiding judge Sebastian Buehrmann “said the main aim of the trial was to establish the full scope of the murder spree”, Sky News reports.
“We will do our utmost to learn the truth,” he said. “It is like a house with dark rooms - we want to bring light into the darkness.”
-
6 lush homes in the treesFeature Featuring a glass house in Texas and a home built for a Broncos quarterback in Colorado
-
7 travel fragrances that let you smell good on the goThe Week Recommends Spritz away!
-
Third judge rejects DOJ's Epstein records requestSpeed Read Judge Richard Berman was the third and final federal judge to reject DOJ petitions to unseal Epstein-related grand jury material
-
How China uses 'dark fleets' to circumvent trade sanctionsThe Explainer The fleets are used to smuggle goods like oil and fish
-
One year after mass protests, why are Kenyans taking to the streets again?today's big question More than 60 protesters died during demonstrations in 2024
-
What happens if tensions between India and Pakistan boil over?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION As the two nuclear-armed neighbors rattle their sabers in the wake of a terrorist attack on the contested Kashmir region, experts worry that the worst might be yet to come
-
Why Russia removed the Taliban's terrorist designationThe Explainer Russia had designated the Taliban as a terrorist group over 20 years ago
-
Inside the Israel-Turkey geopolitical dance across SyriaTHE EXPLAINER As Syria struggles in the wake of the Assad regime's collapse, its neighbors are carefully coordinating to avoid potential military confrontations
-
'Like a sound from hell': Serbia and sonic weaponsThe Explainer Half a million people sign petition alleging Serbian police used an illegal 'sound cannon' to disrupt anti-government protests
-
The arrest of the Philippines' former president leaves the country's drug war in disarrayIn the Spotlight Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the ICC earlier this month
-
Ukrainian election: who could replace Zelenskyy?The Explainer Donald Trump's 'dictator' jibe raises pressure on Ukraine to the polls while the country is under martial law
