The file cover in the David case is closed after four years. The Higher Regional Court of Linz has reduced the sentence for the two doctors in the appeal procedure. David’s parents are disappointed.
Room 208 in the Higher Regional Court of Linz on Wednesday, 1 pm. The start of the long-awaited hearing in the David case – more than a year after the first ruling of the Salzburg Regional Court. At the time, the judge sentenced David’s doctors to suspended sentences for death by gross negligence. 16 months for the anesthetist, eight for the pediatric surgeon. And now both are again demanding acquittal.
“Human Tragedy”
The defenders are convinced: the doctors have simply done their job. “The concatenation of several omissions or errors was unforeseeable,” is said at the trial. After that, the senior public prosecutor speaks of a “caused suffering that cannot be measured”. And of “human tragedy”.
Complications after mini-surgery
As a reminder, David was only 17 months old in April 2018 when his parents took him to Salzburg University Hospital due to a hemorrhage on his left cheek. The doctors wanted to erase the wound—a trivial operation, really. But the parents pointed out that the son had eaten a lot beforehand. Still, the anesthesia was continued.
After the 1 minute operation, there were serious complications: trachea vomiting, massive oxygen loss, and resuscitation. David suffered brain damage and died ten days later.
“A doctor who acted carefully would have acted differently,” emphasizes Andrea Blum, Weißer Ring’s representative victim attorney. She demands confirmation of the first judgments. Even before the three-member Senate judge retires, the anesthesiologist finds a few closing words: “My intention was to help. It pushes my emotional boundaries to empathize with this suffering.”
Only death by negligence instead of gross
The Court of Appeal is not there to repeat the hearing, but to examine it formally and legally. There are clear words from the presiding judge, Günther Winsauer. In the reasoning behind the verdict, he also says, “You could have operated on later.” In the case of the pediatric surgeon, the court only assumes culpable homicide rather than gross negligence. The medic who ordered David’s surgery is sentenced to two months in prison.
Nine months before anesthetist
For anaesthesiologists, only the sentence is reduced: to nine months. The main reason for this: the too long duration of the procedure. The verdicts are now final. In a first reaction, David’s parents are disappointed with the “Krone”: “It is a brutality that an already mild punishment is reduced again.” Now it is the turn of the medical association’s disciplinary law: the convicted doctors are threatened with a professional ban.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
