Not expecting from a noble profession like medicine, an Austrian surgeon has been fined for cutting off the wrong leg of a patient in early 2021.
Right leg of an elderly patient was removed rather left, with the mistake only discovered two days later. Linz city court found the 43-year-old surgeon guilty of extreme negligence and fined her €2,700.
The patient’s widow, who died before the case arrived at the court, was also given €5,000 in damages. In May this year, the patient attended the clinic in Freistadt town to have his leg cut off but the guiltier marked the wrong limb for amputation.
Later, the mistake was discovered during a routine bandage change and the patient was asked to be ready to get his other leg amputated also.
To cover its shame and sheer negligence, the hospital director termed the incident as a ‘result of unfortunate circumstances and tendered an apology.
In 1995, a doctor in the United States found halfway through surgery that he was cutting the wrong leg of a diabetic patient. He was compelled to continue after amputating through ligaments, tendons, and muscles.
