Judgment against anesthetist again postponed

Judgment against anesthetist again postponed. Has an anesthetist violated due diligence and thus provoked the death of a two-year-old child?

No judgment against the 57-year-old anesthetist at the district court Halle: A doctor has to answer for a bodily injury with death in court. The defendant is accused of having used a wrong anesthesia machine in a two-year-old child in January 2009 during a medical procedure. The defense made further requests for evidence, one of these motions followed by the judges and set the next day of the trial to 17 November.

General anesthesia with caries treatment?
Physician Ronald R. is accused of having used a general anesthetic in January 2009 in a two-year-old boy during a caries treatment with the help of a wrong device. After the treatment, the child did not wake up from the anesthesia and died in a hospital two days later. The cause of death: During the anesthesia, the child was exposed to a significant lack of oxygen.

On the first day of the trial, the 46-year-old mother described her emotional upset and upset the events of that time. Her son suffered from tooth decay at that time. For this reason, she had been to a dentist several times with her son. But her child did not want to open her mouth for the dental treatment. The doctor then referred the small patient to a specialist. The lawyer of the child's mother accused the anesthetist of mass misconduct during the trial: "It has been shot with cannons on sparrows if you give general anesthesia to a toddler with mild tooth damage," said the lawyer. In addition, the physician had violated his medical due diligence. According to media reports, the parents of the deceased child demand 50,000 euros in compensation from the anesthetist.

If a wrong anesthesia machine was used?
In itself, the verdict had been expected on Thursday. Since the process has now been postponed again, it is still unclear when a final verdict will be issued. At the next day's trial, the janitor of the dental practice is heard as a witness. The questioning of the witness was requested by the defense. The further witness hearing is now to clarify whether at the time of surgery in addition to a used anesthesia device "Medimorph", which had no TÜV approval, was also an additional device, which, according to the defense lawyer, some deficiencies in data collection, the "Medimorph" device has balanced. The monitor "Vizor 10", which can monitor the CO2 saturation of the blood of the patient, should have been used by the physician, argued the lawyer. The questioning of the caretaker should now clarify whether this was the case.

The doctor faces up to 15 years imprisonment
The judges of the regional court did not rule out that the pleadings should be held on the next day of the hearing. In the case of a conviction for a bodily injury resulting in death, the defendant is threatened with imprisonment of up to 15 years. If the doctor is convicted of careless homicide, he faces up to five years imprisonment. The last day of the trial was postponed to 18 November. (sb, 31.10.2010)

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Child dies after visiting a dentist

Picture: Peter Kirchhoff