ΜΕΤΑ ΑΠΟ ΕΠΕΜΒΑΣΗ ΑΦΑΙΡΕΣΗΣ ΟΜΦΑΛΟΚΗΛΗΣ ΣΤΗ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗ
- 01 May 2023
- timeliness
Two doctors were sentenced by the Three-member Criminal Court of Thessaloniki as they were found guilty of the death, by negligence, of a 41-year-old patient, after an operation to remove an umbilical hernia, at the Papanikolaou Hospital in Thessaloniki.
It is about a surgeon and a specialist surgeon, on whom the court imposed - respectively - a prison sentence of 18 and 12 months, with a 3-year suspension. For the same case, two more doctors sat on the bench of the same court and were found not guilty.
The antibiotic
According to the history of the case as described in the indictment, the patient – a mother of two minor children – underwent surgery in December 2018.
After the surgery, she was given an (intravenous) antibiotic which, however, caused – among other things – allergic shock, respiratory distress and a drop in the level of consciousness.
After a delayed administration of adrenaline - as stated in the indictment - she was transferred for hospitalization to the Intensive Care Unit of the Hospital, where her health condition gradually worsened (she suffered multiple organ failure and severe brain damage) and she died ten days later.
Routine intervention
"They told us it was a routine operation, like going to the supermarket. When she came out of surgery she was in good spirits. They took her to the ward, and she told me that she is fine," said, among other things, the husband of the patient, testifying in court.
In their apologies, the accused doctors denied their responsibilities, stressing that they acted according to the rules of medical science. "The allergic shock was a random event," said the surgeon who received the longest sentence, adding that "as long as I live I will sleep peacefully." After the unanimous verdict of the judges, the two doctors appealed and were released.
