WORLD NEWS | German surgeon fired after hiring hospital cleaners to assist with amputation

BERLIN, May 19 (AP) — Officials at a hospital in western Germany expressed regret that one of their surgeons was given a cleaner to assist with the amputation of a toe.

Public broadcaster SWR reported on Friday that the 2020 incident at Mainz University Hospital did not cause any complications for the patient, but that the doctor had been fired.

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The hospital’s chief executive, Norbert Pfeiffer, said surgeons made the mistake of deciding to continue the routine procedure despite having no qualified assistants, SWR reported.

When the patient receiving local anesthesia became agitated, doctors asked nearby cleaners to hold the man’s leg and hand over surgical instruments, local daily Mainzer Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

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The newspaper reported that the cleaner had no medical experience.

The incident reportedly came to light after a hospital manager spotted a cleaner in an operating theater – holding bloody gauze pads.

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

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)