A nurse killed 85 patients with drug overdose: "He gave them drugs to cause cardiac arrest and try to revive them"

Without any doubt, two German hospitals went through a grim period between 2000 and 2005. While pretending to take care of their patients, a nurse murdered them with injections overdose of drugs. The crimes of Niels Högel were discovered and this Thursday, at 42, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Even though Niels was convicted the murder of 85 patientsPolice estimate that the number could be about 200. However, the actual figure can never be known because the bodies of the alleged victims were cremated.

Niels was discovered in 2005 by a colleague who surprised him by administering a non-prescribed medication to a patient. In 2015, he was tried for double murder, two badbadination attempts and two serious injuries. However, subsequent investigations lasting nearly three years revealed that their crimes covered a much larger number.

German justice considered the nurse one of the worst killers in series from the recent history of this country since the Second World War. For the president of the court of Oldenburg, Sebastian Buhrmann, "the crimes committed by Niels Högel defy the reason and all the known limits".

The victims, between 34 and 96 years old, they were chosen at random by Niels. From 2000 to 2005, he injected an overdose of drugs to dozens of patients.

As the nurse explained, all he wanted was to emphasize among his colleagues "the resuscitation of the sick". "It was the only way to integrate into the team," he said. "He I gave them drugs to his patients who caused cardiac arrest to then try to revive them. "

Niels Högel was born on December 30, 1976 in Wilhelmshaven and became a nurse, like his father, at age 19. At the end of 1999, he began working at the Oldenburg Hospital and in early 2003 at that of the nearby town of Delmenhorst.