Patient dies after 'botched colonoscopy'
The Local - [email protected] •
12 Dec, 2014
Updated Fri 12 Dec 2014 11:28 CEST
A doctor from the Waldviertel in Lower Austria is being investigated after an elderly patient died several days after a routine colonoscopy.
Maria Z. (74) was admitted to hospital in Horn with acute pain over the weekend, just two days after her checkup.
A surgeon found that her intestinal wall had been perforated - presumably during the colonoscopy - and despite their best efforts a team of doctors was unable to save her life.
She died as the result of internal bleeding. The hospital immediately filed a complaint about the doctor concerned.
Family members described Maria Z. as “healthy and fun-loving”.
Franz Hütter, the prosecutor in Krems, is now examining the case. “We have ordered an autopsy and will determine whether there is a malpractice case against the doctor,” he told the Heute newspaper.
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