A BRAIN surgeon is facing a criminal trial after allegedly letting her young daughter drill a hole into a patient’s skull.
The shocking incident happened in an operating room in the Graz Regional Hospital in Graz, Austria.
The surgery happened in January 2024 after the 33-year-old patient was admitted to the hospital following a serious accident.
He had sustained a traumatic brain injury and was in need of immediate surgery.
Two doctors carried out the operation – a doctor and senior physician and a neurosurgeon still in training.
The neurosurgeon had brought her 12-year-old daughter into the operating room.
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After the operation was almost complete, one defendant allegedly let the girl drill into the patient’s skull in order to create a hole for the probe, according to the indictment.
Prosecutor Julia Steiner said following the brazen action, the surgeon proudly announced that her daughter had just had her first gynaecological hysterectomy, Kurier reported.
Following a spate of anonymous reports, an investigation was launched.
Steiner said that despite the operation being completed without any complication, “the risk cannot be downplayed”.
She labelled the act as “an incredible lack of respect for the patient”.
Bernhard Lehofer, the unnamed neurosurgeon’s lawyer, hit back at the claims, saying: “The child did not drill,” claiming the doctors had control over the machine.
He conceded it was “not a good idea” for her daughter to be in the operating room, but that his client had paid for the mistake for nearly two years.
Michael Kropiunig, the attorney representing the doctor, said his client didn’t know the age of the child.
“He allowed her to put her hand on his hand while he was operating the drill, but that’s not relevant to the criminal proceedings,” Kropiunig said.
The pair both pleaded not guilty to minor bodily harm.
The doctor reportedly described the end of the surgery, where the neurosurgeon took a phone call and her daughter had asked him if she could help.
He claimed he asked her mother, who had given her blessing.
He claimed he then let the 12-year-old put her hand over his as he guided the drill.
The neurosurgeon later added her daughter had been in her office studying all day and had requested to follow her into the operating theatre.
She said she’d agreed to let her daughter watch, but said she did not see the critical moment with the drill.
“I was standing in the back and was distracted,” she said.
The neurosurgeon further claimed she had “wanted to protect” her colleague when reports began to surface, and urged him to keep quiet.
Stefan Wolfsberger, head of neurosurgery at the hospital, described the moment he found an anonymous letter reporting the incident.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
Numerous employees had reportedly heard about the operation and it became widely spoken about in the hospital.
The court case has been delayed until December, due to the lack of physical witnesses and experts being called to speak.
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The trial will continue on December 12.