"One of the biggest hospital scandals in Europe"
The trial of a doctor accused of medical negligence has begun.
The 53-year-old professional, was accused of the deaths of seven patients and personal injury battery in 60 other claims.
It was alleged that the surgeon operated on patients unnecessarily or without taking the essential precautions, therefore resulting in death.
The accused, a former director and chief physician at a clinic, will appear in the criminal chamber of the regional court.
Seven other doctors will join him in the dock for what is being dubbed one of the biggest hospital scandals in Europe.
The doctor stands accused of a string of offences. The 382-page indictment includes murder by professional negligence in four separate cases, 69 cases of serious medical malpractice, three include death and 60 connected to bodily harm.
The story that became a true horror
The years of torture began in January 2006, when he brought a small clinic, which only housed 100 beds and a dozen doctors. The firm had been at the brink of bankruptcy.
As a result, the doctor implemented his very own methods of cost cutting. He reportedly slashed spending on disinfecting products, blood supplies and expensive medications.
The investigations began when somebody registered an anonymous official complaint about the doctor in December 2006. Prosecutors soon confiscated patient records and searched his house.
As a result, Chief Justice Lothar Beckers and his four fellow justices, are preparing themselves for a long and difficult trial.
The prosecutors alone have called upon 106 witnesses and six medical expert witnesses to talk about the sheer horror and scale of the case.
One squeamish practice reported includes using freshly squeezed lemon juice on patient’s wounds, instead of sanitising them with sterile solutions.
The doctor has also been accused of having performed unnecessary surgery in a number of cases, including removing parts of intestines, gall bladders and pleura from anaesthetised patients purely out of greed.
In one case, prosecutors allege that a 60-year old woman came to the clinic to have a polyp removed.
After the first operation she suffered from a sepsis related collapse. During a second operation, part of her appendix and a stoma were removed.
According to medical evidence, she then had to undergo unnecessary chemotherapy which in combination with the unnecessary removal of part of her intestines led to her death. "She suffered terrible agony this year and died far too young," her injury lawyer sombrely stated.
Investigators have also found evidence in the case, that they claim shows that the accused also said to have professional competence and expert knowledge in areas he did not.
In seven cases, this led him to make mistakes that resulted in the patient's death. Under competent care, the patients would likely have been saved.
Shockingly, there seems to be no or little remorse from ‘doctor death’ himself. He was jailed for half a year in 2008, and sees himself to be the victim of a conspiracy.
He apparently still drives to his private clinic every day, where he is still described as the head physician.
Updated on 17/09/2009