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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Two die of poisoning at therapist’s

Associated Press

BERLIN – A doctor leading a group therapy session gave participants drugs and other substances that killed two and left 10 hospitalized, Berlin police said Sunday. One person was left comatose and in critical condition.

The doctor who led the session has acknowledged giving the participants various substances and drugs during the meeting, Martin Steltner, a spokesman for the Berlin prosecutor’s office, said Sunday. It was not clear whether illegal drugs were given or whether the substances were injected or taken orally.

A police statement said autopsies have been carried out on the two dead people but “the chemical-toxicological investigation will take a while.”

Police said the session took place in a house and medical practice in the leafy Hermsdorf neighborhood in the north of Berlin. The 50-year-old doctor who worked there was detained and a homicide division was investigating, police said.

The doctor, his 41-year-old wife, who runs a practice for alternative medicine in the same building, and 12 other people attended the session Saturday, according to a police statement.

A 59-year-old man died at the scene and a 28-year-old man died that night in the hospital, police said.