The Norwegian doctor Morten Sæther died after being stabbed during a home visit to a mentally ill patient. – There are no winners in this, the brother says to VG.
Less than 10 minutes ago
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The police in Copenhagen reported June 21 that a man was in critical condition after a stabbing on Amager, and that they had arrested a man in his 30s.
The man, who was a doctor, died of his injuries on June 28, after lying in an artificial coma at Rigshospitalet for one week.
Peder Reistad, local chairman of the Danish medical organization PLO, confirms to VG that it is about Morten Sæther (64), who grew up in Hønefoss, but who has worked as a doctor in Denmark for a long time.
The arrested man in his 30s admits to having stabbed the doctor twice with a knife. During a court hearing on June 22, it was also revealed that the person in question has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, according to Danish TV 2.
The man has been remanded in custody in a psychiatric ward until July 19, and will be charged with murder, according to the channel.
–Stine Sæther Uldal (62), sister of the deceased, says that she received the message from the hospital with great sadness. She describes her brother as a warm and caring person.
– It’s just tragic. I also think of the relatives of the man who killed his doctor, she says to VG.
– I’m not angry, I’m just sorry, she adds.
Cardiac arrest for 30 minutes
Stine Uldal says that they were only optimistic when the family learned that Morten Sæther had been placed in an artificial coma.
– We took it almost for granted that he would wake up again, but he did not, she says.
After three days, the family was told that the doctors had tried everything, but that the brother’s life could not be saved.
– Morten had cardiac arrest for 30 minutes. They sewed him together again, but it was too late, she says.
Uldal says that the hospital pulled the respirator on Monday 27 June. Morten Sæther fell asleep quietly at 07.29 the next morning.
He leaves behind a 14-year-old daughter and a 21-year-old son.
–Stine Uldal and her brother have family ties to Denmark, and both moved there a little over 40 years ago. During the last 14 years, Morten Sæther had his own medical clinic in Copenhagen.
– This happened the day after his birthday. I did not meet him then, but we lived not far from each other, and we saw each other often, she says.
– Did you ever talk to Morten about the risks associated with work?
– Never. Morten has worked in all sorts of places, including in prison, and I never think that thought has crossed his mind. He was absolutely sure that he would retire, that he would settle down at the family cabin by Steinsfjorden.
– He thought the best about people, but he got burned on it sometimes, she adds.
– No winners
Arnt Sæther (57), the youngest of three siblings, thinks it is absurd that his brother should be killed at work.
– He often called the patients in the evening to hear how it went. I think he was very well liked, he says.
– I think he just loved his patient group, simply.
The youngest brother works daily as a lecturer, and describes himself as a “professional spreader of joy”. Lately, however, he has been gripped by a bottomless grief.
– It’s terribly sad. For everyone really. Both for Morten and the family, but also he who has done it. There are no winners in this, says Arnt Sæther.
–Only a few days after Morten Sæther died, Copenhagen was hit a mass shooting that took the lives of three people at Field’s Mall. The perpetrator must have been familiar with psychiatry from before.
– What do you think about what happened to your brother, given that there have been several serious episodes recently where the mentally ill have been at the center?
– It was my brother, it has been Kongsberg, London pub, and not least the shooting at the mall. It is actually not that far away from where he lived in Copenhagen, says Arnt Sæther.
The youngest brother believes that society should take mental health even more seriously.
– The one who killed my brother needs help. And the doctors and the personnel who will take care of these people also need help and resources to do so, Arnt Sæther adds.
Like his sister, however, he does not believe that the deceased brother found it dangerous to go to work.
– What he thinks was tiring, I think, was all the reporting and how little time the doctors get with each patient. Everyone should be driven through as quickly as possible, and I think that was stressful, says the youngest brother.
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