Overview
- Both defendants were cleared for lack of evidence, and the ruling from the Graz district court is not yet final.
- Prosecutors had accused the neurosurgeon and a colleague of participating in bodily harm by allowing an untrained child to take part in treatment.
- No immediate, conclusive witnesses could say who operated the drill, and several operating-room staff gave incomplete or conflicting accounts.
- The operating surgeon testified the child placed one or both hands on the drill while he kept control, and the mother’s reported boast about a “first hole” was deemed insufficient proof.
- The patient reported severe psychological distress despite no documented surgical complications, was directed toward civil remedies, and both doctors are no longer at the clinic, which has since tightened access rules.