Patient death in Berlin: Federal court upholds prison term for anaesthetist
Three years and three months in prison for an anaesthetist after a 59-year-old woman died in 2020: Germany's Federal Court of Justice rejected his appeal, making the verdict final.
Symbolic image · Photo: L.E.rewi-sor / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Germany's Federal Court of Justice in Leipzig has upheld the conviction of a Berlin anaesthetist after a 59-year-old patient died in April 2020. The woman was undergoing surgery for a back condition, and the orthopaedic surgeon had called in the anaesthetist to administer general anaesthesia. According to the court's findings, she suffered respiratory and cardiac arrest that the doctor did not immediately notice and went without oxygen for minutes. She had also not been informed of the risks of general anaesthesia or the alternatives.
The Berlin Regional Court convicted the then 78-year-old doctor in August 2025 of bodily harm resulting in death and sentenced him to three years and three months in prison. The court's 5th criminal panel rejected his appeal on Oct. 6, finding no legal errors to his disadvantage, which makes the verdict final, dpa reported.