(CNN) — An Austrian court has fined a surgeon 2,700 euros ($3,050) for mistakenly amputating the wrong leg of a patient.
The 43-year-old surgeon was fined at the Linz Regional Court on Wednesday, with half of the amount suspended, “for committing grossly negligent bodily harm,” Walter Eichinger, the court’s vice president, told CNN.
The court also awarded $5,666 in damages to the widow of the patient, Eichinger said. The patient died before the court date, for reasons unrelated to the amputation.
On May 18 the surgeon, who was working at a clinic in Freistadt, “carried out an inadequate clarification with the existing medical records and the photo documentation before the operation for the planned amputation of the left thigh and thus marked the right leg for the surgical intervention,” Eichinger said.
The right thigh was then “amputated without any medical indication,” he continued.
Following the mistake, the man needed to have the correct leg removed above the knee as well.
Both the accused and the prosecutor have until Dec. 6 to appeal the decision. If they do not, the court’s judgment will be final.
In May, the hospital released a statement following the incident, which it called a “tragic mistake, caused by human error.”
“We would also like to affirm that we will be doing everything to unravel the case, to investigate all internal processes and critically analyze them. Any necessary steps will immediately be taken,” the hospital said at the time.The-CNN-Wire
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