Trial over scandalous operation in Austria Did a 12-year-old girl drill open a skull as an "assistant surgeon"?
A seriously injured patient undergoes emergency surgery. The surgeon's daughter is allowed to be present during the operation. That much is certain. But did the child also lend a hand?
14.10.2025, 20:28
dpa
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- A female and male surgeon are on trial in Austria for the alleged involvement of a child in an emergency operation.
- The two doctors' daughter was allowed to be present during the operation.
- The court has to clarify whether the child even had a hand in the operation with her parents' permission.
- The penalty ranges up to one year in prison, alternatively a fine is possible.
Was a twelve-year-old girl allowed to drill open a patient's skull during an emergency operation in Austria? This question is the subject of a trial in the city of Graz. The defendants are a neurosurgeon - the child's mother - and a surgeon. Both doctors were involved in the procedure.
The doctors deny that the girl was actively involved. They are charged with participation in bodily harm because they presumably allowed an untrained person to treat a patient, as the public prosecutor explained. The penalty ranges up to one year in prison; alternatively, a fine is possible.
During the operation in January 2024, a man was treated after a heavy branch fell on his head in a forestry accident. He was admitted to Graz Regional Hospital with a traumatic brain injury.
Daughter interested in medicine
It was a Saturday. The then 12-year-old daughter had accompanied her mother to the hospital that day to learn English vocabulary, the 48-year-old surgeon told the court. The medically interested child then asked to be allowed to watch an operation. The fact that she had allowed this was "certainly a mistake", said the mother.
According to the defendant, the daughter asked to be allowed to help towards the end of the operation. "I was surprised by the question, but I didn't refuse her, which was a huge mistake," said the accused surgeon. The 35-year-old admitted that the child put her hand on the drill or on his hand. But he had operated the device and always had full control, he emphasized.
The surgeon had already completed her part of the operation at this point and was already busy in the operating room making phone calls about further planned operations, as she testified. She was not aware of exactly what her daughter had done.
Surgeon speaks of "stupid maternal pride"
According to witnesses, however, the surgeon had told clinic colleagues after the operation that her daughter had just made her first drill hole. In court, the surgeon said that she had probably only said this "out of stupid motherly pride", but she had not meant it in the sense of active participation in the operation.
The operation went smoothly and without any negative consequences. However, the procedure could have ended "really badly" due to the child's involvement, the prosecutor said. "This shows an incredible lack of respect for the patient," she said.
Defendants no longer work at the clinic
The allegations had become known through rumors in the clinic and through an anonymous letter to senior doctors. The hospital has since parted company with the two defendants, a spokeswoman for the university hospital told the German Press Agency. No verdict has yet been reached. The trial is due to continue on December 10.
