“Good Doctor Niels”: the story of a nurse who killed hundreds of patients

In 2005, there were already about 300 victims on the account of “good doctor Niels” – the nurse became the most massive serial killer in the history of peaceful Germany.

Niels Högel was born in 1974 and grew up in Wilhelmshaven, a small town in northwestern Germany. The Högel family was no different from the others: his mother was a legal assistant, his father a nurse. The boy and the sister were never beaten at home: the parents loved the children and took care of them.

Father has always served as an example and role model for Nils. The young man followed in his footsteps – in 2011 he got a job in the cardiac surgery intensive care unit of a clinic in Oldenburg. But he soon got bored and started enjoying himself in a truly monstrous way.

In the summer of 2001, a meeting took place at the clinic in Oldenburg: doctors and orderlies discussed a strange increase in deaths and the passage of patients to critical condition. During the meeting, it turned out that more than half of these incidents happened in Högel’s custody.

Nils immediately took a three-week vacation: he was sure he had been unmasked. However, no inquest followed, even though the death toll dropped sharply during Högel’s absence. When the nurse returned to work, he was simply transferred to the anesthesiology department.

Soon the head doctor of the department noticed two alarming facts. First of all, Niels was regularly present during emergency operations, even if it was not part of his duties. Second, Högel’s patients are too often seriously ill for no apparent reason.

And again, no one went to the police: Hoegel was only offered either to resign with a “golden parachute” – three salaries, or to move to the logistics department of the clinic and transport patients around the hospital on a stretcher. Niels chose the former.

The nurse received an excellent letter of recommendation from the hospital director, in which Niels was described as “diligent and self-reliant”, showing “devotion” and “the ability to work in a team”. It is not surprising that in 2002 Högel found a new position at the Delmenhorst Clinic.

At first, his colleagues liked Niels – he was considered a diligent and experienced nurse. But soon people around began to notice: during Högel’s service, deaths became more frequent. However, authorities ignored the doctors’ appeal even after four empty vials of giluritmal were found in the ward watched by Högel.

The investigation only began in 2005 after Niels was literally taken by the hand: doctors noticed he was trying to inject the patient with aymaline, a drug to stop tachycardia.

The police examined all deaths in the hospital between 2003 and 2005. As a result, it turned out that the number of deaths at that time was double the usual indicators for the clinic. According to investigators, 73% of the deaths could be linked to Högel’s activities. But it was not possible to prove the murders: Högel was only charged with attempted murder. The nurse was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and banned from working for life.

In 2014, a second investigation was opened, after which Nils was sentenced to life for the murder of 85 patients. However, this number, according to experts, is very far from reality – Högel probably killed about 300 people.

When questioned, the “good doctor Niels”, as the press calls him, confessed to having committed his crimes out of vanity: he injected the victims with a lethal dose of drugs against cardiovascular diseases only to demonstrate his ability to resuscitate patients.

Boredom was another motive: Högel hated routine and liked tense situations. The fact that not all assassination attempts resulted in a “triumph of professionalism”, Högel does not regret at all: the murders act on him like drugs.

At the last meeting, Högel addressed the relatives of the victims: “I sincerely apologize to everyone who has been affected by what I have done for many years,” the nurse said. But it is unlikely that his words were sincere: a medical examination revealed the absence of a “Werewolf in a bathrobe” without shame or remorse.

Photo: Hauke-Christian Dittrich/dpa/picture-alliance/TASS, Legion Media