GESTIÓN EN SALUD PÚBLICA: BioEdge: German nurse killed at least 85 patients

domingo, 9 de junio de 2019

BioEdge: German nurse killed at least 85 patients

BioEdge: German nurse killed at least 85 patients

Bioedge

German nurse killed at least 85 patients

by Michael Cook | 9 Jun 2019 |

^{Niels Hoegel}

A former German nurse who liked to put patients into cardiac arrest because he enjoyed the feeling of resuscitating them has been convicted of 85 murders.

Niels Hoegel, 46, received a life sentence. "Your guilt is unimaginable," Judge Sebastian Bührmann told him. "The human mind struggles to take in the sheer scale of these crimes. I feel like an accountant of death. Sometimes the worst fantasy is not enough to describe the truth."

Hoegel worked at a hospital in the north-western city of Oldenburg between 1999 and 2002 and another hospital in nearby Delmenhorst from 2003 to 2005. The murders took place between 2000 and 2005. The victims ranged in age between 34 and 96.

A former colleague told the German newspaper Bild that Högel was nicknamed "Resuscitation Rambo" because he liked to showcase his skill in bringing people back from the brink of death.

The deaths make him post-war Germany's deadliest serial killer.

In 2015 Hoegel was convicted of two murders and two attempted murders and is already serving a life sentence. In the latest trial, which took place after the prosecution gathered more evidence, Hoegel was tried on 100 counts of murder. Eighty-five of these cases were proven. There could be many more but since many possible victims had been cremated, it was impossible to prove.

Michael Cook is editor of BioEdge

The news of a 17-year-old Dutch girl suffering from anorexia nervosa who died of 'euthanasia" flew around the world this week. It was an error. The Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG) clarified what happened: "She decided to stop eating and drinking to bring her own death. In The Netherlands, this is not considered euthanasia or physician assisted suicide." The media issued corrections and moved on.

I'm curious to know more about this sad story. In her autobiography, Noa said that she had been raped and that this had provoked a psychological crisis. Sadly, this could easily have been true. No one queried the truth of her story, possibly because sexual abuse is known to trigger anorexia. But without that back story, would the world have been so sympathetic to her decision to starve herself to death?

The KNMG says that stopping eating and drinking under medical supervision is not physician-assisted suicide. Really? She committed suicide and she was assisted by physicians. As Humpty Dumpty said, "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less." If Noa's death wasn't physician assisted suicide, then I'm a Dutchman.

Isn't the real news here something altogether different? Dutch doctors who were unable or unwilling to treat a 17-year-old rape victim for anorexia nervosa gave up on her and allowed her to kill herself. In her time of greatest need, they abandoned their patient.