Authorities in northern Germany have launched a criminal investigation into a doctor suspected of killing several patients, most of them elderly, in the Pinneberg district near Hamburg.
In a joint statement released on Tuesday, the public prosecutor’s office and police in Itzehoe confirmed that a special commission is reviewing past deaths. Investigators have already carried out several autopsies and exhumations as part of the inquiry.
“For investigative reasons, no details of the number of deaths investigated are currently being provided,” the statement read. In line with German privacy rules, authorities have not named the doctor, nor disclosed any identifying details about the possible victims.
Forensic analysis and a full evaluation of the findings are expected to take several weeks.
The case bears some similarity to a recent high-profile investigation in Berlin, where a palliative care doctor was charged in April with the murder of 15 patients.
