A surgeon in Austria who was sued for amputating the wrong leg of a patient is now facing the consequences. Before the surgery, the wrong limb was marked for amputation, a mistake discovered two days later during a routine bandage change. The patient was told he would need his other leg amputated as well. The 43-year-old doctor, whose name is being withheld, was found guilty of gross negligence and fined €2,700 ($3,053). The patient died before the case went to court, and his widow was awarded €5,000 ($5,651) in damages. The director of the hospital publicly apologized and said the incident was “the result of a sequence of unfortunate circumstances.” The doctor said in court that there was a flaw in the chain of command in the operating room and that she “made a mistake,” but denied gross negligence. The doctor has since moved to another clinic and half of her fine was suspended.
