/ 23 September 2010

German surgeon sentenced over op theatre punch-up

A surgeon in Germany has been given a suspended jail sentence and told to pay money to charity after assaulting two colleagues during an operation, a press report said on Thursday.

Hakan B (44), an ear, nose and throat specialist, punched anaesthetist Thomas S to the ground and then kicked him, when he was meant to be operating on a patient’s nasal cartilage, the Bild daily reported.

A 60-year-old nurse tried to intervene and received verbal abuse and an elbow in the chest for his trouble. The incident happened on April 10 this year.

“I had already done five operations that day,” said the surgeon, who was given a three-month suspended sentence. “I am very, very sorry.”

“A doctor should behave differently,” the judge said in Wednesday’s trial in Nuremberg, southern Germany.

B was ordered to pay €9 000 in damages and to donate €3 000 to a homeless shelter. — AFP