Parents sue hospital: process continues

According to the parents, the benzodiazepines meant that the child had to be treated in the intensive care unit. At the start of the trial in January, the lawyer for the city of Dornbirn denied that the child had received the sedatives from the hospital staff. The trial was postponed at the beginning of the year because the parties could not reach an agreement. A report from a pediatrician should then clarify whether the medication was actually administered in the hospital.

The family’s lawyer relies on reports

Patrick Beichl, the family’s lawyer, is convinced that the newborn received benzodiazepines in the city hospital. The report basically makes it clear that benzodiazepines entered the newborn’s system. However, the expert could not assess whether the drug had actually been administered because nothing could be found in the medical records, the lawyer continued.

According to the report, a sample from the mother was negative for the sedative, which suggests that the baby was given the drug after birth, said Beichl. However, the report also makes it clear that only an overdose can be considered a treatment error and attributed to the city hospital. In principle, it is not a malpractice to give benzodiazepines to newborns, according to the report. The report does not say whether there was an overdose.

Compensation for pain and suffering demanded

The parents are demanding 30,000 euros in compensation from the Dornbirn City Hospital for the anxious time they had to go through after the birth. The child, now two and a half years old, is currently healthy. However, it is said that it will only be possible to determine in one to two years whether there is any lasting damage caused by the alleged medication administration.