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Brain surgeon arrested for allowing 12-year-old daughter to drill hole in patient’s skull
A brain surgeon was arrested and is now facing a criminal trial after allegedly letting her 12-year-old daughter drill a hole in a patient’s skull.
A brain surgeon was arrested and is now facing a criminal trial after allegedly letting her 12-year-old daughter drill a hole in a patient’s skull. The surgeon denies these allegations.
When and where the incident occurred
In January 2024, a brain surgeon in Austria allegedly allowed her daughter into an operation theatre and subsequently let her drill a hole in a patient’s skull for a probe.
The incident took place in an operating room in the Graz Regional Hospital in Graz, Austria, according to a Kurier report.
12-year-old drills hole in skull
In January 2024, a 33-year-old farm worker was admitted to the hospital. He had sustained a traumatic brain injury in a serious accident.
Two doctors carried out the operation on the 33-year-old patient. One was a doctor and a senior physician. The other was a neurosurgeon still in training.
The doctor apparently brought her 12-year-old daughter into the operating room. According to the indictment, after the operation was almost complete, she allowed her daughter to drill a hole in the patient’s skull for a probe.
She later boasted to nurses that her daughter had just completed her first gynecological hysterectomy.
An investigation was launched after several people anonymously reported the doctor.
The doctor’s defense
The Austrian brain surgeon is denying claims that she allowed her daughter to drill the hole.
She says that her boasting to the nurses was a lie borne of her “bloody stupid maternal pride”
According to a report in The NZ Herald, she told the court her “biggest mistake was letting her go to the operating table”.
However, the doctor’s junior colleague admits that the 12-year-old girl helped him drill the hole, although he was “always in control” of the tool.
“Incredible disrespect”
Prosecutor Julia Steiner said the incident showed “incredible disrespect towards the patient”.
“What would have happened if the drill had been defective and had not stopped automatically after breaking through the skull bone?” Steiner asked, emphasizing that the “risk cannot be downplayed”.
