Shameless 100-Death Nurse Killed Patients For Kicks

Story By: Koen Berghuis, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

A male nurse on trial for murdering 100 patients by giving them an overdose so that he could enjoy resuscitating them lacks any “empathy” or “shame” for his alleged crimes, it has been claimed.

Picture Credits: CEN

Former nurse Niels Hoegel, 42, is currently on trial at the Oldenburg Regional Court on suspicion of killing 100 patients from 2000 to 2005 in Oldenburg and Delmenhorst in the north-western German state of Lower Saxony.

It is believed that he deliberately overdosed patients with heart medication called Gilurytmal so that he could enjoy the feeling of resuscitating them.

Court psychiatric expert Prof Dr. Henning Sass released his report on the alleged German death nurse, testifying that he thinks Hoegel is fully culpable and knew exactly what he was doing.

Dr. Sass also gave a damning description of Hoegel’s bizarre character, saying: “He lacks shame, guilt, remorse and empathy.”

The court psychiatrist said that the defendant is highly dangerous as he has a “tendency” to commit crimes.

Hoegel is currently already locked up in prison for life having already being found guilty of two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of GBH at the Oldenburg Regional Court in 2015.

Since that trial, prosecutors have found enough evidence to charge him with dozens of other murders after receiving the toxicological results from the bodies of Hoegel’s alleged victims

The massive scale of the crimes first came to light after Hoegel was convicted of attempted murder in another case. He was reportedly caught red-handed by a colleague giving a patient the heart medication in 2005. 

In November last year, the court in Oldenburg questioned the defendant about every count of murder he has been charged with to decide on his guilt or innocence in every case.

However, Hoegel could not provide insight on the first count as he claimed he could not remember it.

The suspect’s first alleged murder is thought to have been a female patient in February 2000 at an ICU in Oldenburg.

Hoegel reportedly confessed to most of the murders in court, but stressed that it was about the thrill and the recognition he received and not about killing the patients or absolving them of their pain.

He also claimed that he did not feel sorry while allegedly committing the murders, saying: “I didn’t feel grief in that sense.”

The exact number of his alleged spree cannot be confirmed as the number of unreported cases could be higher and some of the patients have been cremated, rendering drug residue tests useless. 

A former inmate of Hoegel’s claimed that the German nurse talks openly about his crimes and that other prisoners view him as a hero.

Thorsten K., a 43-year-old inmate who served time with Hoegel after being convicted of fraud, said that he spoke many times about killing patients in the clinic.

Thorsten K. said: “He wanted to boast about his deeds. He needed to be recognised whenever he successfully resuscitated someone.”

According to local media, Hoegel could be one of Germany’s most prolific post-war murderers if found guilty of the new murder charges.

On 6th June, Judge Sebastian Buehrmann will rule on the Hoegel case.