German pseudo-doctor sentenced to life imprisonment

A court in Germany has sentenced a woman posing as a doctor to life in prison for causing the death of several people she treated.

The regional court in Kassel said the 51-year-old woman used a fake license to get a job as an anesthesiologist.

It turned out that three patients died as a result of treatment errors, while others suffered serious damage, according to the German news agency dpa. The woman was sentenced to three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.

The court referred to the particular severity of the crimes, which makes it difficult for a woman to be released from prison after 15 years in prison. That is how long people sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany must serve before they can be considered for possible release.

The prosecutor's office accused the woman of misdosing anesthetics and failing to cure a blood poisoning in a patient in a hospital in Fritzlar. It is also claimed that she was responsible for many hours of oxygen starvation, damage to the cardiovascular system and organ failure in patients, reports dpa.

After working at the Fritzlar Hospital from 2015 to 2018, the woman moved to a clinic in northern Germany.

Representatives of the regional medical association drew attention to inconsistencies in her records, and in the end she turned herself in to the police for fraud in employment.

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