[Phenomenology of serial homicide of critically ill elderly patients by patient care personnel].

The study represents a completely new criminological phenomenon among homicide offenses: the killing of many very old terminally or incurably ill patients in hospitals and sometimes nursing homes. These homicides are a worldwide phenomenon. Six distinguishing indications of this phenomenon are differentiated from the traditional homicide criminology. Some statistical data of 11 nurses are presented, sentenced between 1976 and 1993 in the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, Norway, the Netherlands, and in the United States of America. Centerpiece of this description is the differentiation of ten important characteristics of these homicidal acts. It is not possible to discuss the motives of this crime in detail.