December 3, 2021
12:35
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A surgeon in Austria has been sentenced to pay 8,000 euros in compensation to the wife of an 82-year-old patient whose leg was amputated by mistake, AFP reported, citing sources in the Linz Regional Court.
In the indictment, the prosecutor’s office stated that the 43-year-old doctor made the mistake as a result of “gross negligence”, although the accused claims that it was a “human error” and was unintentional.
The defendant marked the wrong leg for amputation of an 82-year-old patient before operating on him in May this year at a clinic in the town of Freistadt. She realized the mistake only two days later.
Unfortunately, the patient could not wait for the case and died before it began on the merits.
The management of the medical institution commented that their internal inspection had been completed and it had established that it was a medical error.
