A German court sentenced Wednesday a woman who claimed to be a doctor to life imprisonment for inflicting the death of many people she cared for.

The Kassel regional court judge said that the evidence indicated that the 51-year old woman used a fake license to get employment as an anesthesiologist.

According to the German news agency dpa, three of the victims died from treatment errors while other patients suffered severe damage. The woman was sentenced to three counts of murder, and 10 counts for attempted murder.

Judges cited the "special gravity" of the crimes as a reason for the woman's inability to be released after 15 years. This is the time that Germans sentenced to life must serve before they can be released.

Prosecutors claimed that the woman was wrongly prescribed anesthetics, and failed to treat blood poisoning at Fritzlar, near Kassel. According to dpa, she is also accused of causing oxygen deprivation and damage to the cardiovascular system as well as organ failure in patients.

Prosecutors claimed that the woman was acting on the basis of an overabundance need for recognition.

The woman, who had worked at Fritzlar from 2015 to 2018, moved to a northern German clinic. Officials from the Hesse Medical Association found discrepancies in her records and she was eventually arrested for employment fraud. Her former employer and the Hesse Medical Association also reported her.