Trial against gynecologists opened

Negligence caused infertility of patients

26/07/2011

At the district court in Munich, the case was opened today against a gynecologist who was supposed to give women with children the wrong advice and thus caused their infertility. The accused physician is accused of negligent assault in five cases. He had unnecessarily removed tissue from the ovaries and scraped the uterus from the women during surgery. As a result of the procedure, the women under treatment for their unfulfilled desire to have a baby became permanently infertile and showed the typical symptoms of menopause already in their mid-twenties.

According to the prosecution, the physician, who in addition to his gynecological practice also used the outpatient operations center of a private clinic in Munich to perform there between May 2005 and December 2006, a total of five medically unnecessary interventions in patients to be responsible for negligent assault. The doctor had recommended women with children to have a laparoscopy and the removal of cysts, but also took the opportunity to perform uterine reaming and tissue removal on the ovaries. The patients complained of significant health problems following surgery and were all infertile.

Patients infertile after unnecessary surgery
The 70-year-old physician had violated in his action against all the rules of medical art, as he also removed tissue on the ovaries and undertook a reaming of the uterus during the procedure, so the indictment before the Munich district court. Negligent bodily injury in five cases is therefore accused to the doctor. The physician had taken the tissue according to his own instructions, to then have the samples examined in the laboratory. However, according to the prosecution, this procedure makes neither diagnostic nor therapeutic sense. The effect had even been counterproductive, as the ovaries were so injured in the tissue removal that a complete loss of function occurred and the women became permanently infertile. In addition, damage to the ovaries in all patients resulted in a premature onset of menopause with typical symptoms such as hot flashes and sleep disturbances. The persons concerned were only 25 or 26 years old at the time. An age in which usually no woman already thinks about menopause.

Forgetting gauze swabs in the lower abdomen
The accusations in the direction of the physician, however, go even further: the doctor is said to have forgotten in two procedures gland swabs in the lower abdomen of the patients, causing them for days suffering from considerable pain, nausea, dizziness and anxiety. Also, those affected had to contend with significant weight loss. All in all, the doctor acted with extreme negligence, which was to be regarded as a gross breach of duty, so the assessment of the prosecutor. Whether the allegations against the physician also confirm in court will be clarified in the coming trial days of the trial at the Munich district court. (Fp)

Also read:
Gene defect leads to infertility in men
Being overweight reduces sperm quality
Home remedies for potency disorders

Picture credits: Oliver Klas