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The Death Nurse [EN]
Ajmalin, a cardiac ward and a system that chose to look away
In this episode:
The Case: Niels Högel, a nurse at the Klinikum Oldenburg and later the Klinikum Delmenhorst. The pattern: cardiac arrests during his shifts, resuscitations, deaths. A handwritten list with eighteen marks next to his name. A reference letter that called him outstanding. And fourteen more years of killing.
The Chronology: From his nursing training in 1997 through to the final verdict in 2019. The slow, painful march through the justice system. The 2018 trial at a convention center in Oldenburg. 120 co-plaintiffs. 332 investigated cases.
The Chemistry: Ajmalin (trade name Gilurytmal): a plant-derived antiarrhythmic that blocks sodium channels in the heart. How an overdose triggers ventricular fibrillation. Why it looks identical to a natural cardiac arrest. And why its extremely short half-life makes forensic detection almost impossible.
The Detection: LC-MS as the relevant analytical method. Why the detection window closes within hours. Why exhumations failed to find evidence in most cases. Not because it wasn't there – but because too much time had passed.
The Treatment: No antidote. No chelation therapy. Purely symptomatic: resuscitation, defibrillation, cardiovascular support. The same tools Högel himself controlled.
The System: Four levels of failure: colleagues who stayed silent, hospital management that gave him a reference letter, prosecutors who saw no connections, and structural invisibility built into German hospital death certification.
Feedback, questions, case suggestions: [email protected]
Also available in German as: Tödliche Verbindungen – Folge 02: Niels Högel
View all episodes
By Dr. Timo SchülerAjmalin, a cardiac ward and a system that chose to look away
In this episode:
The Case: Niels Högel, a nurse at the Klinikum Oldenburg and later the Klinikum Delmenhorst. The pattern: cardiac arrests during his shifts, resuscitations, deaths. A handwritten list with eighteen marks next to his name. A reference letter that called him outstanding. And fourteen more years of killing.
The Chronology: From his nursing training in 1997 through to the final verdict in 2019. The slow, painful march through the justice system. The 2018 trial at a convention center in Oldenburg. 120 co-plaintiffs. 332 investigated cases.
The Chemistry: Ajmalin (trade name Gilurytmal): a plant-derived antiarrhythmic that blocks sodium channels in the heart. How an overdose triggers ventricular fibrillation. Why it looks identical to a natural cardiac arrest. And why its extremely short half-life makes forensic detection almost impossible.
The Detection: LC-MS as the relevant analytical method. Why the detection window closes within hours. Why exhumations failed to find evidence in most cases. Not because it wasn't there – but because too much time had passed.
The Treatment: No antidote. No chelation therapy. Purely symptomatic: resuscitation, defibrillation, cardiovascular support. The same tools Högel himself controlled.
The System: Four levels of failure: colleagues who stayed silent, hospital management that gave him a reference letter, prosecutors who saw no connections, and structural invisibility built into German hospital death certification.
Feedback, questions, case suggestions: [email protected]
Also available in German as: Tödliche Verbindungen – Folge 02: Niels Högel