A German palliative care doctor has been charged with murdering 15 of his patients using a cocktail of lethal drugs.

Prosecutors in Berlin have accused the 40-year-old of setting fire to the homes of some of his suspected victims to cover his tracks.

He allegedly killed 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024, though prosecutors have said they believe that total could rise.

The doctor, who has not been named due to strict privacy laws in Germany, has not admitted to the charges, prosecutors said.

He is accused of administering an anaesthetic and a muscle relaxant to his patients without their knowledge or consent.

The relaxant "paralyses the respiratory muscles, leading to respiratory arrest and death within minutes,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

He worked in several German states, and the ages of those whose deaths are being treated as suspicious range from 25 to 94.

It is also alleged that the suspect set fire to the apartments of his alleged victims to cover up the killings on five different occasions.

The suspect is accused of killing two patients in a single day in July 2024 – a 75-year-old man at his home in central Berlin, and a 76-year-old woman in a neighbouring district “a few hours later”.

Prosecutors said the doctor tried to set fire to the woman’s house but failed, adding: “When he noticed this, he reportedly informed a relative of the woman, claiming that he was standing in front of her apartment and that no one had responded to his ringing.”

The doctor was initially suspected of having killed four people in his care when he was arrested in August 2024 but investigations have uncovered other suspicious deaths, with more exhumations on potential victims planned.

A "lifelong professional ban” and “preventative detention” is being sought for the 40-year-old suspect. He remains in custody. (BBC: Text, Excluding Headline)