German Nurse May Have Killed 84 Patients, Authorities Say

A German nurse who was already convicted of murder may be responsible for the deaths of at least 84 patients, but possibly more, German authorities revealed Monday.

Niels Hoegel, 40, was convicted in 2015 for the killing of two patients and the attempted murders of two others at a clinic in Delmenhorst, Germany. He overdosed the patients with heart medicine, according to the Associated Press Monday.

The investigation that led to the convictions also caused prosecutors to believe the nurse had killed many more patients. Investigators have exhumed the bodies of dozens of Hegel’s former patients in Delmenhorst and Oldenburg in northern Germany to investigate.

Oldenburg police chief Johann Kuehme said in a news conference Monday that police have evidence that could link Hoegel to 84 other deaths. Kuehme said the number could be even higher, but because some former patients had been cremated, it would be impossible to tell.

“Eighty-four killings ... leave us speechless,” Kuehme said. “And as if all that were not enough, we must realize that the real dimension of the killings by Niels H. is likely many times worse.”

Hoegel admitted to injecting patients with deadly drugs and then trying to revive them in an apparent ploy at playing hero, according to Al Jazeera Monday. He did so with at least 90 victims.

Police also feel that the deaths could have been prevented.

“If the people responsible at the time, particularly at the Oldenburg clinic but also later in Delmenhorst, hadn't hesitated to alert authorities …for example police, prosecutors” then Hegel would have been discovered earlier, Kuehme said during the press conference.

Staff from both facilities that Hoegel had worked at are being investigated. He worked in Oldenburg from 1999 to 2002 and in Delmenhorst from 2003 to 2005, according to the Associated Press.

Prosecutors have already charged six people who worked with Hoegel for failing to stop the killings despite being aware of them, according to Reuters Monday.

Hoegel is already sentenced to jail for life. Prosecutors are expected to try Hoegel, but German law does not allow for consecutive sentences, according to the Associated Press.