By Bond Robertson 
Comment Expresses the author's views.
The 39-year-old was taken into custody on Tuesday on charges of four counts of aggravated violence and four counts of arson, as it is called in German law.
Police have so far established that he killed four patients aged 72, 76, 87 and 94 between June 11 and July 24 this year.
However, the suspect was responsible for dozens of terminally ill patients, and new cases may emerge.
The police will also certainly investigate whether there were any unclear cases in the cities where the paramedic previously worked.
Asbjörn Svarstad
He works mostly with historical articles and political commentaries and is a certified guide in Sachsenhausen. Since 1996 he has lived permanently in Berlin where he has worked for several Scandinavian media.
It is turned on.
In all cases, the man concluded the murders by setting fire to his victims' apartments, apparently to cover his tracks.
The only problem was that he couldn't burn it properly. Only in the first instance did the fire grow to the point where the fire brigade had to put it out. Otherwise, the fires died down on their own.
In one case, the doctor must have left the apartment with the water heaters on. He later told police that the patient had forgotten to turn off the appliances.
When he did manage to burn her, neighbors were alerted early enough that the 87-year-old woman was found and taken to the hospital. She was able to be revived, but she died a short time later.
At one crime scene, police investigators met a 39-year-old man who introduced himself as the treating physician – and offered to make the deceased's medical records available to them.
His behavior must have puzzled the police officers.
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The alarm went off.
After four similar cases in the Neukölln area, the police raised the alarm.
When the deaths were investigated more thoroughly, there was no longer any doubt that the procedure was almost identical – and that the same perpetrator was behind it.
Because the palliative care physician had contacted the deceased's family members and expressed concern that the patient had not opened the door, suspicion quickly arose.
Because in at least one case, it was clear that the doctor was actually inside the apartment, which is completely contrary to what he himself said.
It is not known what method of killing was used, or whether the suspect has pleaded guilty. Police have not reported whether there are suspicions of theft from the crime scene.
The doctor belongs to the palliative care team of three private companies that provide medical services to the elderly.
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New light
This case will certainly shed new light on the massive problems of poverty among the elderly.
Their pensions are so low that it becomes impossible for them to pay an average of 35,000 Norwegian kroner per month – the price of such institutions.
If the elderly themselves do not have the financial resources to stay in a nursing home, it is the children's duty to pay the difference between the parents' pension and the actual costs.
Many German families do not have the financial resources to do so.
The result is that they are doing everything they can to ensure that their elderly relatives can live at home. Grants are already being offered for home nursing care, but if we are to believe word of mouth, there is not much that can be provided for such purposes.
That's why some people stay in their own apartments – even if they are alone and terminally ill.
For them, the palliative care physician is of course an important helper – at least as long as the person concerned has no evil intentions.
Here you can read more about Asbjørn Svarstad.
secret
I have wondered for many years about this glacial system, which means that many elderly and lonely people are forced to live in isolation, perhaps with contact with a helpful neighbor or two.
And when they're taken away in an ambulance one day, the neighbors never know how things went – let alone if the patient is still alive.
This information is subject to strict privacy rules, and the state is not entitled to provide information in such cases.
My new neighbor rang the doorbell a month ago to say hello and introduce himself.
The man launched into a longer explanation, one about advanced stomach cancer and an inherent disdain for doctors and painkillers.
Therefore, he should not receive any treatment or any additional attention from society.
Feel the smell
The next week, the stairwell started to smell bad.
A week later I came home one day to find the door of the apartment next door locked by the police.
Then I can think my own way.
Another week later, men in space suits and gas masks showed up. Outside was their black car, with inscriptions on the side saying they were specialists in cleaning up decomposing bodies.
Barely a week later, the foul odor started again.
I thought that in the fifth place he probably went on vacation in the summer heat and forgot to take out the trash.
But after a few more days with an increasingly foul odor, a police seal appeared on his door as well. And to his great surprise, after a while the astronauts appeared again in their uniforms.
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Norwegian elderly care?
When I bumped into a third neighbor yesterday, none of us could help ourselves – other than to make some observations about the exploding death statistics in the residence.
Then we moved on to talk about the obvious in the situation – the many people who have been left to fend for themselves more or less, either because they have no family – or have cut off contact with their loved ones.
The neighbor wanted to know how things were going with Norwegian care for the elderly – and I had to admit that there might be things I could put my finger on at home, too.
But otherwise the two national solutions are not comparable.
“Angel of Death”
In the coming days, the public will learn more details about how the 39-year-old suspect killed his victims.
The media will publish tear-jerking stories about his victims — and perhaps even interviews with weeping survivors wiping away bitter tears for the camera lens.
In such cases, it is often discovered that the “Angel of Death” has been on the move before – but often in other establishments in other cities.
The Bild Zeitung newspaper reported on Thursday that the doctor had a doctorate in “killings against the elderly.” He is said to have been educated in his hometown of Frankfurt am Main before recently moving to the German capital.
Whether this issue will become the basis for the political debate on German elderly care, I dare to doubt it greatly.
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Because if we are to believe the Chancellor and the Health Minister, this country faces much bigger and more important tasks than sewing pillows under the arms of people who have worked so lowly all their lives that their pensions and their ability to pay will eventually be catastrophic.
But in a year at the latest, Germans will go to the polls to elect a new Bundestag parliament – and promises to allocate more money to elderly care are the issue that is giving Schaer Wagenknecht’s new party a real boost in the polls.
The living will see.