An Austrian surgeon allegedly let his teenage daughter drill a hole in a patient’s skull.
Following a forestry accident in January, a 33-year-old man was flown by air ambulance to Graz University Hospital, Styria, southeastern Austria, with serious head injuries, according to Kronen Zeitung, an Austrian newspaper.
He needed emergency surgery, but the doctor allegedly let his 13-year-old daughter take part in operating on him.
The newspaper reported that she even drilled a hole in the patient’s skull.
While the operation was said to have gone off without issue, the patient is still unable to work and investigations by the Graz public prosecutor’s officer against the entire surgical team are continuing.
It wasn’t until April that an anonymous complaint was logged to the public prosecutor’s office about the allegations, the newspaper reported.
The alleged victim initially learned about the case in the media before later being told by authorities he was a witness in an investigation.
Do you think the patient gave informed consent, where the information included the fact that the surgical team would include untrained people?
No, but there was still no damages. I don’t know about Austria, but in the US it has to be shown that damages were suffered.
Without informed consent a surgery is assault though
Emergency surgery or transport to a hospital from a patient such as this falls under implied consent. The patient got in a near fatal accident. He didn’t schedule a knee surgery or something.