A German court in Berlin has handed a life sentence to a doctor accused of killing 15 patients receiving palliative care. Prosecutors said the 40-year-old doctor administered a combination of drugs—described as an anesthetic and a muscle relaxant—without patients’ knowledge or consent, and that the medication caused death within minutes by paralyzing respiratory muscles.

In addition to the murders, prosecutors alleged he attempted to conceal the killings. Court proceedings described claims that in some cases he started fires in patients’ apartments after the injections in a bid to make the deaths appear natural or accidental.

The patients prosecutors linked to the case ranged from 25 to 94 and largely died in their homes. The killings were alleged to have occurred between September 2021 and July 2024.

Prosecutors had sought a life term and a lifelong professional ban, citing particularly severe guilt. Investigators said additional suspicious patient deaths were still being reviewed beyond the 15 charges that led to the conviction.