Detained Berlin doctor suspected of killing 8 patients

A Berlin-based palliative care doctor, already in custody, is alleged to have killed at least eight people, double the number initially assumed, the public prosecutor's office said on Thursday, reported dpa.

A murder investigation is under way, prosecution spokesman Sebastian Büchner said.

The man, who worked for a nursing service, was taken into custody in August and charged with four counts of manslaughter as well as arson, after allegedly trying to cover up his actions by starting fires in the patients' flats.

The prosecution subsequently examined documents from other patients of his, while two bodies were exhumed for forensic examination.

The public prosecution is now holding the 40-year-old doctor responsible for the deaths of two women aged 70 and 61, as well as two men aged 70 and 83. He is alleged to have administered a "mixture of various medications" to the victims.

Büchner said the suspect is alleged to have had no other motive than the killing of the victims.

The arrest warrant for the doctor has been extended by an investigating judge, according to the prosecution. The doctor has so far remained silent on the allegations, Büchner said.

A team of investigators is continuing to look for any possible indications of further crimes.

The doctor is said to have committed the acts in the course of his work for a nursing service. Palliative care doctors support terminally ill patients to alleviate their pain.

According to the public prosecutor's office, the affected patients were not in an acute terminal phase at the time of the acts.