Convicted serial killer Niels Högel was charged with 97 further counts of murder in the northern German city of Oldenburg on Monday. The former nurse is already serving jail time for murdering other patients.

In court, Niels has admitted to acting "out of boredom" and to impress his colleagues — by giving patients medicine to cause heart failure or circulatory collapse and then trying to revive them.

Police investigator Arne Schmidt called the killings "unique in the history of the German republic."

Initially convicted of attempted murder in hospitals in Oldenburg and the nearby city of Delmenhorst, Högel's subsequent statements to a psychologist about 30 killings prompted authorities to exhume scores of bodies buried between 1999 and 2005 and test them for the killer's drug cocktails.

Högel was first sentenced in 2008 to seven and a half years for attempted murder, before being handed a life sentence in 2015 over six counts of murder.

In the course of the investigation, police found that hospital authorities failed to report the disturbing increase in fatalities when Högel was working.

"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 — Högel could have been apprehended sooner," Oldenburg Police Chief Johann Kühme said.

Two former physicians in Delmenhorst are also facing charges in connection with patient deaths.

es/rt (AFP, dpa)</s>Death Toll for German Serial Killer Nurse Goes Up, Another 97 Victims Suspected

A German nurse serving a life sentence for murdering two patients is suspected of killing another 97 people by lethal injection.

If convicted, Niels Högel would become Germany's most deadly serial killer ever.

Högel, now 41, was charged with 97 further counts of murder on Monday. His third trial in the northern city of Oldenburg, Germany, is expected to start later this year, according to Reuters.

Police investigator Arne Schmidt told Deutsche Welle the killings are "unique in the history of the German republic."

Högel was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 on two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. But during his trial, he confessed to killing many others.

He admitted to injecting 90 of his patients with a lethal cocktail of drugs in order to induce heart failure or circulatory collapse so he could try to revive them. Högel believed bringing dying patients back from the brink of death would help him shine as a hero and garner respect from his peers and superiors.

The New York Times reported Högel said he acted "out of boredom" and Reuters added that he described feeling euphoric after bringing someone back to life, although he often failed.

In statements to a psychologist he revealed over 30 killings — on top of the two for which he was convicted. That prompted authorities to launch an investigation and exhume scores of bodies buried between 1999 and 2005 and test them for the killer's drug cocktails.

As NPR's Laurel Wamsley reported in August, Högel's career as a nurse was ghastly throughout:

Also troubling is that Högel's lethal practices went unreported by fellow hospital staff. Though others noticed that the number of deaths in the intensive care unit at Delmenhorst doubled during his time there, nothing was done. In 2005, a colleague saw Högel injecting a patient with ajmaline, but management didn't do anything about it for two days, during which Högel killed his final patient. Six employees at the hospital at Delmenhorst are now charged with negligent manslaughter for their failure to act. An investigation into neglect at Oldenburg is ongoing. "The murders could have been prevented," [chief of police Johan] Kühme told the Guardian, noting that Högel was given a clean reference which allowed him to move to the Delmenhorst hospital and continue killing people. "People at the clinic in Oldenburg knew of the abnormalities."

On Monday, Oldenburg prosecutors told Reuters they had charged Högel with 97 additional murders but toxicology tests did not find conclusive proof in three more cases.

Of the newly discovered cases, 62 patients died in the Delmenhorst hospital near the northern city of Bremen and 35 in a clinic in Oldenburg.</s>In 2015, former nurse Niels Högel was convicted of killing two patients and sentenced to life in prison. On Monday, Reuters reports, police formally charged him with 97 other murders.

Högel worked at clinics in Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, Germany in the early and mid-aughts, where his M.O. was to inject patients with lethal drugs and then attempt to revive them — allegedly because he was “bored.”

Per an article in The Guardian during that trial:

He said he felt great when he managed to resuscitate a patient, and devastated when he failed. Each time a patient died, he vowed to never play his lethal game again, but this determination would then slowly fade, he said.

Högel also claimed to have killed 30 other patients but, over the years, police came to believe that number was much higher. If found guilty of the 97 murders, local sources say he would be “the worst serial killer in German post-war history.”</s>A German nurse was hit with 97 new counts of murder after already having been convicted of others, prosecutors announced Monday. Niels Hoegel was already serving a life sentence after being convicted of two murders, though authorities now believe he may have killed more than 100 patients.

Hoegel, 40, would likely face trial for the 97 new alleged murders sometime later this year, prosecutors said Monday, according to Agence France Presse.

Hoegel previously admitted to murdering patients “out of boredom,” according to Germany’s DW News. He was convicted of two murders and two attempted murders in 2015, though authorities now said they believe there were far more. Some 134 bodies have been exhumed for toxicology tests as part of the investigation into Hoegel, according to Time magazine.

Oldenburg Police Chief Johann Kuehme said Monday officials had evidence of 84 additional murders in addition to those which Hoegel had already been convicted of, according to CBC News.

“Eighty four killings, leave us speechless,” Keuhme said, according to CBC. “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 worked as a nurse in Oldenburg from 1999 to 2002, according to Sky News. After that, he worked in Delmenhorst from 2003 to 2005. The names of the new suspected victims had not been released and authorities said the case was difficult because some of the deaths took place many years ago.

Hoegel admitted during his previous trial to deliberately injecting patients with drugs that would bring about heart failure so he could then revive them and impress his coworkers. He used different drugs while attempting to resuscitate patients, said prosecutor Martin Koziolek, according to Time magazine. Hoegel said during his 2015 trial that he was “honestly sorry” and that his actions were typically not premeditated.

“Usually the decision to do it was relatively spontaneous,” he said, according to BBC News.

Prosecutors would likely try Hoegel again for at least some of the additional alleged murders, though German law does not give consecutive sentences, the Associated Press reported. Additional convictions would only affect potential parole for Hoegel but would not add to his life-sentence.

Should Hoegel be convicted of all new charges leveled against him, it would mark him as of the worst serial killers in Germany post-World War II, BBC News reported.

Investigations were also underway into medical clinics in Delmenhorst and Oldenburg where Hoegel worked in order to determine whether anyone in the facilities knew about Hoegel’s actions. Authorities said they believed some of the deaths could have been prevented if certain people acted sooner.

“If the people responsible at the time particularly at the Oldenburg clinic but also later in Delmenhorst, hadn’t hesitated to alert authorities,” said Keuhme.</s>A nurse who is already serving a life sentence for murdering two patients has been accused of killing another 97 people with lethal injections by German prosecutors.

If found guilty of the new charges, he would officially be Germany’s deadliest serial killer.

The third trial of Niels Hoegel, 41, is expected to start later this year, a court spokesman in the northern city of Oldenburg said.

Hoegel has admitted to injecting patients with drugs that cause heart failure or circulatory collapse so he could then try to revive them and, when successful, shine as a saviour before his medical peers and superiors.

In a case police have called “unique in the history of the German republic,” he earlier testified that at times he acted out of “boredom”, feeling euphoric when he managed to bring a patient back to life.

He was found guilty of six killings in two earlier trials, but investigators have pushed on with toxicology tests on hundreds more exhumed bodies.

On Monday, Oldenburg prosecutors said they had charged him with 97 additional murders on top of the six he has been convicted of, while saying toxicology tests did not find conclusive proof in three more cases.

Of the newly discovered cases, 62 patients died in the Delmenhorst hospital near the northern city of Bremen and 35 in a clinic in Oldenburg.

Prosecutors said the nurse should have been aware that the drugs he was giving his patients could cause ailments ranging from possible cardiac arrhythmia, ventricular fibrillation to hypotension.

“From the prosecutorial point of view, the accused Niels H accepted, at least tacitly, in all cases the death of the patients due to the effects of the drugs,” the prosecutors said in a statement.

The revelations date back to 2005, when a female nurse witnessed Hoegel trying to inject a patient at the Delmenhorst hospital. The patient survived and Hoegel was arrested.

In 2008, he was sentenced to seven and a half years in jail for several cases of attempted murder.

Amid the media publicity, a woman then contacted police, voicing suspicion that her deceased mother had also fallen victim to the killer nurse.

Hoegel, meanwhile, told fellow inmates and then a psychiatrist that he had committed scores more killings.

He was jailed for life in 2015, but at the time it was clear he had murdered many more patients, with investigators admitting they may never know the true number as some remains had been cremated.

Separate investigations are looking at the clinics in Delmenhorst and Oldenburg and whether superiors there had cause to suspect foul play in the high number of patient deaths.

Ten years ago, a German nurse was convicted of killing 28 elderly patients. He said he gave them lethal injections because he felt sorry for them. He was sentenced to life in prison.

In Britain, Doctor Harold Shipman was believed to have killed as many as 250 people, most of them elderly and middle-aged women who were his patients. Known as Dr Death, Shipman was sentenced to 15 life terms in 2000; he died prison in 2004, apparently a suicide.</s>, Berlin, Germany, Jan 22 – A German male nurse serving a life term for killing six hospital patients with lethal drugs out of “boredom” will face trial for another 97 murders, prosecutors said Monday.

The third trial of Niels Hoegel, 41, accused of being the worst serial killer in German post-war history, is expected to start later this year, a court spokesman in the northern city of Oldenburg told AFP.

Hoegel has admitted to injecting patients with drugs that cause heart failure or circulatory collapse so he could then try to revive them and, when successful, shine as a saviour before his medical peers and superiors.

In a case police have called “unique in the history of the German republic,” he earlier testified that at times he acted out of “boredom”, feeling euphoric when he managed to bring a patient back to life.

He was found guilty of six killings in two earlier trials, but investigators have pushed on with toxicology tests on hundreds more exhumed bodies.

On Monday, Oldenburg prosecutors said they had charged him with 97 additional murders on top of the six he has been convicted of, while saying toxicology tests did not find conclusive proof in three more cases.

Of the newly discovered cases, 62 patients died in the Delmenhorst hospital near the northern city of Bremen and 35 in a clinic in Oldenburg.

The revelations date back to 2005, when a female nurse witnessed Hoegel trying to inject a patient at the Delmenhorst hospital.

The patient survived and Hoegel was arrested.

In 2008, he was sentenced to seven and a half years in jail for several cases of attempted murder.

Amid the media publicity, a woman then contacted police, voicing suspicion that her deceased mother had also fallen victim to the killer nurse.

Hoegel meanwhile told fellow inmates and then a psychiatrist that he had committed scores more killings.

He was jailed for life in 2015, but at the time it was clear he had murdered many more patients, with investigators admitting they may never know the true number as some remains had been cremated.

Separate investigations are looking at the clinics in Delmenhorst and Oldenburg and whether superiors there had cause to suspect foul play in the high number of patient deaths.</s>A German nurse who's already serving a life sentence for two murders has been charged with 97 more.



Niels Hoegel was jailed in 2015 for killing two patients, and the attempted murder of two others.



In those cases he gave them overdoses of several different heart medications, leading investigators to look into the deaths of hundreds more.



The allegations cover his time at two German hospitals between 1999 and 2005 - in Delmenhorst and Oldenburg.



It's thought he may be Germany's most prolific serial killer.</s>German public prosecutors on Monday said they had brought new charges against a killer nurse already serving a life sentence for murdering two patients, accusing him of killing another 97 people with lethal injections.

BERLIN: German public prosecutors on Monday said they had brought new charges against a killer nurse already serving a life sentence for murdering two patients, accusing him of killing another 97 people with lethal injections.

If found guilty, it would make him Germany's deadliest serial killer.

The man, identified only as Niels H. under reporting rules, has admitted to deliberately injecting patients at two clinics in northern Germany with deadly drugs and then trying to revive them in order to play the hero.

Prosecutors in the northern German city of Oldenburg said an investigation and toxicology reports showed that the accused also gave 35 people at a clinic in Oldenburg and 62 at one in nearby Delmenhorst life-threatening medicines.

Prosecutors said Niels H. should have been aware that the drugs he was giving his patients could cause ailments ranging from possible cardiac arrhythmia, ventricular fibrillation to hypotension.

"From the prosecutorial point of view, the accused Niels H. accepted, at least tacitly, in all cases the death of the patients due to the effects of the drugs," the prosecutors said in a statement.

The new charges come in addition to two counts of murder for which an Oldenburg court sentenced him to life in prison in 2015.

Ten years ago, a German nurse was convicted of killing 28 elderly patients. He said he gave them lethal injections because he felt sorry for them. He was sentenced to life in prison.

In Britain, Dr. Harold Shipman was believed to have killed as many as 250 people, most of them elderly and middle-aged women who were his patients. Known as Dr. Death, Shipman was sentenced to 15 life terms in 2000; he died prison in 2004, apparently a suicide.</s>A German nurse serving a life sentence for two murders has been charged with another 97 hospital murders, prosecutors said Monday. If found guilty, it would make him Germany's deadliest post-war serial killer.

The male nurse, identified only as Niels H. under reporting rules, is accused of intentionally bringing about cardiac crises to relieve boredom. The charges relate to two hospitals where he worked in Lower Saxony, Germany, over a seven year period.

Niels H. was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 on two counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder and battery.

During the trial it was heard he confessed to the killings of 90 more people during his employment in Oldenburg and Delmenhorst hospitals, prompting investigators to carry out toxicological examinations on dozens of other patients who died at the hospitals.

Oldenburg public prosecutors office confirmed Monday that, following extensive investigations and toxicology analyses, Niels H. is being charged with an additional 97 murders.

62 of these murders allegedly happened while he worked as a nurse in Delmenhorst between 2003 and 2005 while the remainder occurred during his employment in Oldenburg between 1999 and 2002.

In three additional cases investigators deemed suspicious, tests didn't produce enough evidence to add them to the charge sheet.

READ MORE: German nurse suspected of killing at least 90 in bizarre game to test his skills

During his trial, the court heard the nurse was a, “thrill seeker,” trying to break up a boring routine by bringing people to the brink of cardiac arrest before attempting to resuscitate them.

A variety of drugs were used in his resuscitation attempts. He did this to present his resuscitation skills to colleagues and supervisors and to fight his boredom, the prosecutor's statement said. The prosecutor added that the nurse should have been aware that the drugs he used could cause life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, even ventricular fibrillation and hypotension.

Police said that earlier intervention from health officials could have stopped the male nurse. Investigations into the involvement of former staff at the facilities are ongoing. A date for a new trial has yet to be confirmed.</s>Niels Hoegel, serving a life sentence for two murders, has been indicted in nearly 100 more killings.

This Jan. 22, 2015 file photo shows former nurse Niels Hoegel covering his face during his trial at the regional court in in Oldenburg, northern Germany. Carmen Jaspersen/dpa via AP

A German nurse serving a life sentence for two murders has been indicted in nearly 100 more killings.

News agency dpa reported that prosecutors in Oldenburg said Monday they have charged Niels Hoegel with 97 counts of murder. The charges relate to the deaths of 35 patients at a hospital in the northwestern German city and 62 more in nearby Delmenhorst.

The charges were expected after officials said in November that Hoegel may have killed more than 100 patients over several years. That announcement came after investigators completed examinations on patients who died when he was a nurse.

Hoegel was convicted in 2015 of two murders and two attempted murders in Delmenhorst. He worked at the Oldenburg hospital from 1999 to 2002 and in Delmenhorst from 2003 to 2005.

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German nurse and convicted serial killer Niels Högel is charged with 97 further counts of murder.