Berlin Charité
Cardiac doctor sentenced to death for double manslaughter
Entrance to the Berlin Charité. The convicted senior doctor was released there in August 2022
© Sebastian Gollnow / DPA
An anonymous tip gave the investigators a clue: The doctor at the Berlin Charité is said to have killed two patients. Now the verdict is in. Will it be enforced? Not quite sure.
After the deaths of two patients, a senior doctor at the Berlin Charité was sentenced to four years in prison. The Berlin regional court found the 56-year-old heart doctor guilty of two counts of manslaughter on Friday. The court is convinced that the internal medicine specialist killed one patient (both 73) in a cardiac intensive care unit in 2021 and 2022 with an overdose of anesthetic. “We are convinced that it was a deliberate attempt to shorten life and therefore a killing,” said presiding judge Gregor Herb.
Nevertheless, the court suspended the arrest warrant so that the doctor did not have to go back to prison after almost a year in custody. He must report to the police twice a week until the verdict is final. The defense announced that it would appeal.
The court’s verdict fell well short of the prosecutor’s request. She had requested a life sentence for the doctor in two cases of murder. In addition, public prosecutor Martin Knispel called for a lifelong professional ban to be imposed against the 56-year-old. However, the court saw a “fundamental devotion” from the doctor to his patients and their relatives.
Judgment is not final
The judgment is not final. The doctor’s defense had pleaded for acquittal. Her client’s behavior was not the cause of the death of the 73-year-old seriously ill people, said lawyer Ria Halbritter in her plea on Friday. Both patients were in an “active dying phase”. In such a situation, it is permissible to switch to palliative therapy.
The doctor rejected the allegations during the trial. He gave both of them a sedative to reduce their suffering. This was not done in the quantities stated in the indictment. The doctor said he was sure he “did not shorten the lives of the patients.” He explained that he only had to blame himself for not documenting the administration of propofol in the accused cases.
Berlin Charité released the doctor in August 2022
The senior physician was released from work by the Charité in August 2022. He was taken into custody in May 2023. The 56-year-old was targeted by investigators after an anonymous tip. According to Charité information, this was received as part of a kind of whistleblower system with trusted lawyers. Clinic employees who notice any inconsistencies can go there.
A co-defendant in the case was a nurse on one count of aiding and abetting manslaughter. The court stopped the proceedings against the 39-year-old after a four-month trial against a fine of 1,500 euros. In her case, there was no question of intentional action, the court reasoned at the time.