Cosmetic Surgeon Must After Op behind bars

Five and a half years in prison for cosmetic surgeon

03/27/2014

A Berlin cosmetic surgeon has to go to prison for five and a half years. The Federal Supreme Court now confirmed the judgment of the district court of Berlin. The doctor had performed a cosmetic surgery on a woman's stomach years ago without having to add an anesthetist. The patient died.

Several hours of surgery without anesthetists
A Berlin cosmetic surgeon has to go to prison for a five-and-a-half-year operation. Thereafter, he may not work for another four years as a registered surgeon, sports physician or as a doctor in the rescue service. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has recently approved a decision of the Landgericht Berlin (Az .: 5 StR 51/14). The doctor qualified as an accident surgeon worked at his own surgical day clinic and in 2006 there was a plastic surgery on the belly of a 49-year-old female patient. He did not add an anesthetist to the procedure for several hours and did not inform the patient about it.

Only hours after cardiac arrest hospitalized in the clinic
During the tummy tuck, the patient developed a cardiac arrest. Although the doctor was able to revive the woman, she only admitted her to a clinic several hours later. There, the 49-year-old died just two weeks after the operation, without regaining consciousness. Since the patient was deceived by the presence of an anesthetist, her consent to the surgery was also ineffective. Therefore, the procedure was legally considered as bodily injury resulting in death. It was legally disputed whether the physician could be accused of attempted manslaughter or even attempted murder by neglect.

Doctor is guilty of it
The Berlin district court had not adequately examined this in its first judgment. In the second judgment, the doctor was also convicted of attempted murder, but in 2012 the BGH overturned this decision, as a killing charge had not been proved. In conclusion, the BGH now found that the surgeon is guilty of bodily harm resulting in death, with the final sentence being only punitive. The doctor himself had rejected all guilt in all the trials. Experts repeatedly warn against cosmetic surgery. These are usually not medically necessary and thus the risk of intervention should be considered unnecessary. (Sb)