Two surgeons handed suspended sentences for medical malpractice

Two surgeons were sentenced to 14 and 11 months in prison respectively, after being found guilty of causing bodily harm through negligence as they forgot a 12.5-centimeter-long surgical needle in the abdomen of a patient during a gynecological operation in a private clinic in Thessaloniki five years ago.

The Single Plenary Court of Thessaloniki also convicted a nurse responsible for dispensing tools on the same charge to seven months in jail. The sentences were suspended for three years and all appealed and were released.

According to the indictment, the patient plaintiff, now 59, had undergone surgery in May 2018 for the removal of cystic fibroids from an ovary, using the method of laparoscopy. She said that after the operation, she felt horrible pains in her left kidney area and abdomen, with the attending physician assuring her that these were “normal post-operative symptoms.”

Testifying in court, the victim said that in the following months she was given strong painkillers until she went to another clinic in September of that year, where she underwent a series of tests that revealed that she had a needle in her body, which had been left behind during the previous operation. She underwent two operations to remove the needle, but its presence in her body for a long period of time caused kidney failure and permanent damage to her health.