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Maxim Petrov: Russia's 'Doctor Death'

Jun 16
3 min read

Updated: Jun 25

Maxim Petrov, a practising doctor in St Petersburg, used the trust placed in his profession to rob and murder his own patients — earning the chilling nickname 'Doctor Death'. Between 1999 and 2000 he killed around a dozen elderly people, mostly frail pensioners, by lethal injection in their homes before stealing their valuables. His case is a disturbing example of the 'healthcare killer', who turns the role of healer into a means of predation. Out of respect for the victims, this account avoids graphic detail.

Petrov's crimes preyed on the most defenceless of patients, exploiting both their vulnerability and their faith in a doctor.

Key Facts at a Glance

Full name: Maxim Petrov
Born: 1965, Leningrad (St Petersburg), USSR
Known as: Doctor Death
Victims: Convicted of around a dozen murders of patients (1999–2000)
Method: Lethal injection in victims' homes, followed by robbery
Outcome: Sentenced to life imprisonment

A trusted physician

Born in 1965, Petrov worked as an emergency doctor in St Petersburg, living on the city's central Vasilievsky Island. Married with children, he projected the image of a respectable medical professional. Behind that façade, he had begun exploiting his position in a calculated campaign of robbery that would escalate into murder.

Robbery turns to murder

From the late 1990s, Petrov committed dozens of robberies by visiting elderly patients at their homes unannounced, usually in the morning when relatives were at work. He would check their blood pressure, suggest they needed an injection, and then anaesthetise them in order to steal their possessions — even taking rings and earrings. At first his victims survived, waking after he had gone.

Eliminating witnesses

From early 1999, Petrov's crimes turned lethal. To avoid being recognised or reported, he began killing his victims rather than merely drugging them, administering fatal doses. His targets were frail, elderly people whose deaths could be mistaken for natural causes, allowing him to continue his scheme while the true pattern went unrecognised.

Capture

Petrov's spree ended in January 2000. Investigators, piecing together a series of suspicious deaths and robberies among elderly patients, identified and arrested him. Survivors of his earlier robberies were able to describe the doctor who had visited them, helping to build the case against him.

Trial and sentence

Petrov was tried for a number of murders — suspected in up to nineteen deaths and ultimately convicted of around eleven or twelve, with several other patients seriously harmed. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The case shocked Russia and raised hard questions about oversight of medical professionals who visit patients alone in their homes.

The 'Doctor Death' case is a stark betrayal of medical trust, made worse by the vulnerability of the elderly patients he targeted. They opened their doors to a man they believed was there to help them, and that trust was turned against them. Remembering those patients, and the safeguards their deaths demanded, is the most important part of the story.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many people did Maxim Petrov kill?

He was convicted of killing around 11 to 12 patients in St Petersburg, and is suspected of up to 19.

How did he kill his victims?

Posing as their doctor, he visited elderly patients at home, anaesthetised or injected them, and stole their valuables; some he killed.

What happened to Maxim Petrov?

He was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in Russia.

Unmasking the Doctor

Petrov's undoing was a victim who lived. After one robbery-killing he set a fire to destroy the evidence, but a patient he had drugged survived and was able to describe the doctor who had come to her home. Investigators, already puzzled by a pattern of elderly patients dying suddenly after a medical visit and then being robbed, connected the deaths to a single physician working on Vasilievsky Island. Petrov was arrested in 2000. At trial he was convicted of multiple murders and numerous counts of attempted murder and theft, and in 2003 he was sentenced to life imprisonment — securing his place as one of the most infamous medical killers in modern Russian history.