Surgeons on trial accused of letting 12yo girl drill hole in patient’s skull at Graz Regional Hospital

A brain surgeon is facing criminal charges after allegedly inviting her daughter into an operating theatre where the 12-year-old was allowed to drill a hole in a patient’s skull.

The surgeon was with a junior colleague operating on the patient who had been admitted to the hospital with a traumatic brain injury when the bizarre incident unfolded at Graz Regional Hospital in Austria on January 13, 2024.

When the girl asked if she could help, it is alleged the junior colleague allowed her to drill into the patient’s skull to create a hole for a probe to measure intercranial pressure.

Her mother claims this happened at the end of the successful surgery and that she had left her colleague to finish the operation while she moved away from the table to make a phone call.

An official investigation was launched after the head of neurosurgery, Stefan Wolfsberger, at the hospital was alerted to the incident by an anonymous letter, and rumours had begun spreading around the hospital.

Both the junior surgeon and the girl’s mother have since been fired and are now facing charges of minor bodily harm in the East Graz District Court, where they have pleaded not guilty, according to German news outlet Kurier.

Prosecutor Julia Steiner said while the surgery went well, “the risk cannot be downplayed”.

She said it showed an “incredible lack of respect for the patient”, a farm worker who had suffered severe injuries when a tree branch fell on his head.

“She took the 12-year-old girl into the operating theatre, where she drilled a hole in the exposed skull on her own and without assistance. Before doing so, the defendant explained how the drill worked,” Ms Steiner reportedly told the court.

“What would have happened if the drill had been defective and had not stopped automatically after breaking through the skull bone?”

Defence attorney Bernhard Lehofer said that while it was not a good idea for the doctor to take her daughter into the operating room, the surgeon always had control of the drill.

“The child was not allowed to drill,” he said.

Michael Kropiunig, the attorney representing the junior surgeon, said his client was unaware of the child’s age.

“He allowed her to put her hand on his hand while he was operating the drill, but that’s not relevant in criminal proceedings.”

The senior brain surgeon said her daughter had been in her office studying when she was called in for the emergency surgery.

When her daughter pleaded with her to come along and watch, she agreed and the girl was given surgical scrubs and allowed into the operating theatre

The mother claims she was standing at the back of the operating theatre and did not see whether her daughter had placed her hand on the drill.

However, she has admitted to later telling nurses that her daughter had just drilled her first hole. But she now says that was not true and that “bloody stupid maternal pride” had prompted her to brag.

The 12-year-old declined to testify.

If found guilty of allowing the girl to drill they hole, the doctors face up to one year in prison or a fine.

The trial is set to continue on December 10.