Trial against those responsible for the clinic in the Niels Högel case: "They did not intervene and accepted the actions with approval"

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One of the accused with defense lawyers in Oldenburg: "We are dealing with an unusual procedure," judge Sebastian Bührmann opened the session

Photo: Sina Schuldt / dpa

Professor D. has already stood before the district court of Oldenburg, in January 2015, at that time as a witness.

The heart surgeon had traveled from Graz to contribute to the clarification of a lawsuit against one of his former employees: the nurse Niels Högel.

He was charged with three counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder.

At that time it was already becoming apparent that Högel could have far more people on his conscience.

He was later sentenced to life imprisonment for the second time, and the particular severity of his guilt was established.

Niels Högel had killed 87 patients in intensive care units in Delmenhorst and Oldenburg.

He himself said that at some point he "stopped counting".

In his testimony in court in January 2015, Professor D. acted as if no one could have guessed.

Although "patients had to be constantly resuscitated" when Högel was on duty, they also wanted to get rid of him.

But nobody sounded the alarm.

Rather, the nurse was given a good reference and was glad when he left voluntarily.

Who looked away?

Now Professor D., once head of the cardiac surgery intensive care unit at the Oldenburg Clinic, is sitting in the dock himself.

And with him six other responsible persons from the Oldenburg and Delmenhorst clinics - for killing, attempted killing or assisting in killing, each by omission.

This means that they are not accused of active action, but of inactivity.

It is the first time that the perpetrator's superiors have been held accountable after a series of killings in a German hospital.

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Professor D. looks around, the media rush is enormous.

The 64-year-old sits between two of his defenders, with a third seated behind him.

Only the head of the clinic at the time has more lawyers.

The accused sit with a total of 18 defense attorneys in the large ballroom of the Weser-Ems-Halle in Oldenburg, which the regional court has converted into a branch office.

"We are dealing with an unusual procedure," judge Sebastian Bührmann opened the session.

For the fourth time, the chairman of the Oldenburg jury presides over a main hearing about the largest series of murders in post-war German history;

he has convicted Niels Högel three times.

Criminal Guilt

Bias motions against him and other members of the chamber were rejected.

Even if Högel has been convicted, the court will determine whether and who Högel killed, Bührmann assures.

»It is clear to us that all of the accused here strongly disapproved of Niels Högel's killings.

We will examine carefully and comprehensively whether criminal liability can be established.«

There are currently eight cases for which Högel was convicted in 2006, 2015 and 2019: three murders in the Oldenburg Clinic in November 2001 and three murders and two attempted murders in Delmenhorst in May and June 2005. The accused are Professor D., who Testified in 2015 as a witness in the trial against Högel, and the then Oldenburg clinic boss Rudolf M., the nursing director there Tiebe O. and the nursing station manager Bernd N.

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The former senior physicians Kurt S. and Thorsten K. and the deputy ward manager C. Wolf from the Delmenhorst Clinic are in the dock.

The head of the nursing station at the time is unable to stand trial and the proceedings against him have been separated.

"They didn't intervene"

The public prosecutor is convinced that they could have prevented Högel's murders because there was suspicion, but none of them called the police.

"Everyone recognized the danger," says prosecutor Gesa Weiß about the allegations in Delmenhorst.

Since the end of October 2001, the accused from the Oldenburg Clinic have recognized that Högel is a danger to patients and have come to terms with it.

"They did not intervene and accepted the deeds with approval," according to the prosecutor, out of concern for the reputation of the two hospitals.

Addressing all of the accused, Weiss says: "You had an obligation to protect the lives of the patients."

The defendants defend themselves through their defense lawyers and deny the allegations.

His lawyer Reinhold Schlothauer announced that it would be proven how the senior physician at the time, S., supported the police investigation and contributed to the investigation.

The fact that people who decided to save lives, help the sick, care for patients recognized a danger and accepted it - "the thought alone is absurd," says Alexander Gruner, who represents the former Oldenburg clinic director .

»Mr M. never saw Mr Högel at work, he was the furthest away from the action.«

Nickname "Rescue Rambo"

Högel was able to prove 33 murders in Oldenburg and 54 in Delmenhorst.

Investigators assume more than 120 murders.

More than 100 patients who died in Högel's shifts were cremated.

How they died could not be explained.

Högel injected seriously ill patients with potassium or the drugs Sotalex or Gilurytmal, a heart drug that, if overdosed, can lead to life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias and a drop in blood pressure.

The condition of those affected deteriorated rapidly, Högel presented himself as a lifesaver and enjoyed the recognition of the resuscitation.

Colleagues gave Högel the nickname "Rescue Rambo".

He remembered Högel's overzealousness

Professor D. from Graz was chief physician at the Oldenburg Clinic for almost 15 years, until March 2014.

Högel belonged to his station.

As a witness, Professor D. said in 2015 that Högel was involved in resuscitation "more often than average" and that his actionism was "not characterized by professionalism".

"Several times" he pointed out the nurse's strange behavior to the nursing service management, said D., but his direct superiors "didn't interpret Högel's exuberant commitment negatively".

He also remembered Högel's eagerness to voluntarily take on patients with severe illnesses and on-call duties.

And the way he "pushed forward."

On the first day of the hearing, his defense attorney, Anne Wehnert, asks whether "jumping in front of a resuscitation" is a punishable offence.

The statements of her client as a witness in 2008 and 2015 in the proceedings against Högel were included in the verdict against the former nurse.

In 2016, Professor D. suddenly became the accused.

She speaks of a "monstrous accusation" and of the "caricature of a doctor" who let a murderer do his thing so as not to endanger the clinic's reputation.

The accused remain silent

For the time being, none of the accused want to testify, so six of them let their lawyers do it.

Only Tiebe O., born in 1944, clears her throat, pushes her mask down and says herself: "I would like to speak at a later date." Shortly before, her lawyer Antje Klötzer-Assion emphasized that one feels with the relatives of the deceased and the processes would have to be clarified.

Ms. O. was brought up in a deep Christian faith, who consciously decided in 1962 to become a nurse and became a nun.

She had no suspicions about Högel.

This procedure also places “an enormous psychological and physical burden” on her.