Petr Zelenka and the Havlíčkův Brod Heparin Murders

In 2006, unexplained bleeding episodes among patients in the anesthesiology and intensive-care department at Havlíčkův Brod Hospital led doctors and investigators to a disturbing conclusion: a member of staff had been administering an anticoagulant without medical justification. Former nurse Petr Zelenka was ultimately convicted of seven murders and ten attempted murders.

The hospital cases

Zelenka worked as a nurse at Havlíčkův Brod Hospital in eastern Bohemia. According to Czech public-service reporting and the later criminal judgment, the offenses for which he was convicted occurred between May and September 2006. The prosecution established that he secretly administered heparin to patients who had not been prescribed the drug in those circumstances.

Heparin is a legitimate anticoagulant used in medicine. The criminal conduct in this case was the unauthorized administration of the drug to vulnerable patients in a way that created severe bleeding risks. Seven patients died in cases the courts attributed to Zelenka, while ten other patients survived incidents adjudicated as attempted murders.

How suspicion emerged

The pattern did not become obvious immediately. Patients in intensive care can experience complicated changes in blood clotting for many medical reasons. Later reporting on a Health Ministry review found that hospital staff had missed opportunities to recognize the abnormal pattern earlier, while emphasizing that Zelenka was the person criminally responsible for the attacks.

Department head Pavel Longin eventually became concerned by repeated unexplained bleeding and raised the alarm. Investigators then examined medication records, staff schedules, medical evidence and the cluster of incidents. Zelenka was arrested after the inquiry focused on his shifts and access to patients.

Investigation and competing claims

Early in the investigation, Zelenka admitted some unauthorized administrations of heparin. During later proceedings he disputed parts of the case and raised challenges to the evidence. His defense also argued that medical complications, rather than heparin, could have explained some deaths.

Crime by Region does not treat confession alone as proof of the full series. The classification here rests on the completed criminal proceedings. Expert testimony, medical evidence and the courts' assessment of the individual incidents led to convictions for seven completed murders and ten attempted murders.

Zelenka also alleged that police had used violence and pressure during questioning. Officers testified in court and denied coercing him. The trial court considered those claims as part of the proceedings rather than simply accepting either side's public statements.

Trial and life sentence

The trial took place before the Regional Court in Hradec Králové. On February 21, 2008, the court imposed a life sentence after finding Zelenka guilty of seven murders and ten attempted murders.

The case included psychiatric and psychological evidence, but experts did not find that he lacked criminal responsibility. The court treated the offenses as intentional killings rather than euthanasia. Contemporary Radio Prague reporting also noted that the patients were not terminally ill people being subjected to an alleged mercy-killing program.

Appeal and Supreme Court review

On June 11, 2008, the Prague High Court upheld the life sentence. That ruling made the judgment legally effective, although Czech procedure still allowed an extraordinary appeal to the Supreme Court.

Zelenka pursued that route. On April 9, 2009, the Czech Supreme Court rejected his appeal as unfounded. The life sentence therefore remained in force. This is why the file is classified Solved / Adjudicated, rather than merely “identified” or “confessed.”

Hospital responsibility was a separate question

The murders also generated civil litigation and reviews of the hospital's response. Families argued that earlier recognition of the unexplained bleeding might have prevented later attacks. Courts and public bodies examined whether the hospital should bear civil liability for failing to identify the pattern sooner.

Those proceedings are legally distinct from Zelenka's criminal responsibility. Later courts rejected some compensation claims against the hospital, while reviews criticized aspects of the medical response. None of those findings reversed Zelenka's murder convictions.

Victims and editorial limits

Contemporary proceedings identified individual patients in court records and compensation cases. This archive does not turn every victim into a separate case page because the offenses were prosecuted as one connected series involving the same offender, hospital setting and method. Fragmenting the prosecution into multiple pages would artificially inflate the Czechia case count.

Two victims named in later civil litigation were František Škvařil and Marie Šimůnková. Other patients and survivors were also part of the criminal case. The essential editorial point is the adjudicated total: seven murders and ten attempted murders.

Timeline

1. May–September 2006
   Unauthorized heparin administrations

   A series of unexplained bleeding incidents occurs among patients in the Havlíčkův Brod Hospital intensive-care department.

2. Late 2006
   Investigation focuses on a nurse

   Hospital concerns and police work lead investigators to Petr Zelenka.

3. January–February 2008
   Criminal trial

   The Regional Court in Hradec Králové hears medical experts, hospital staff, investigators and the defense.

4. February 21, 2008
   Life sentence

   Zelenka is convicted of seven murders and ten attempted murders and sentenced to life imprisonment.

5. June 11, 2008
   Appeal rejected

   The Prague High Court confirms the life sentence.

6. April 9, 2009
   Supreme Court challenge fails

   The Supreme Court rejects Zelenka's extraordinary appeal and the life sentence remains in force.

Current status

Solved / adjudicated. Petr Zelenka was convicted of seven murders and ten attempted murders. His life sentence was upheld on appeal and his Supreme Court challenge was rejected in 2009. Later civil disputes about the hospital's conduct did not disturb the criminal judgment.