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Surgeon fired after getting hospital cleaner to assist with amputation

Author
AP,
Publish Date
Sat, 20 May 2023, 11:15am
The girls were joined from the lower chest to just above the pelvis. Photo / 123RF
The girls were joined from the lower chest to just above the pelvis. Photo / 123RF

Surgeon fired after getting hospital cleaner to assist with amputation

Author
AP,
Publish Date
Sat, 20 May 2023, 11:15am

Officials at a hospital in western Germany have expressed regret after it emerged that one of their surgeons got a cleaner to assist in a toe amputation.

Public broadcaster SWR reported Friday that the incident at the Mainz University Hospital, which happened in 2020, didn’t result in any complications to the patient but the doctor has since been fired.

The hospital’s chief executive, Norbert Pfeiffer, said the surgeon wrongly decided to go ahead with the routine procedure even though no qualified assistant was available, SWR reported.

The unorthodox operation took place at Mainz University Hospital in Germany. Photo / Getty Images

The unorthodox operation took place at Mainz University Hospital in Germany. Photo / Getty Images

When the patient, who had received a local anesthetic, became restless the doctor asked a nearby cleaner to hold the man’s leg and pass surgical instruments, according to Mainz daily Allgemeine Zeitung. The paper reported that the cleaner had no medical experience.

The incident came to light after a hospital manager spotted the cleaner — bloody gauze pads in hand — in the operating theatre, it reported.

“This should never have happened,” German news agency dpa quoted Pfeiffer as saying.

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