Mainz University Hospital: Surgeon fired for using cleaning assistant during toe amputation

German media are now writing columns up and down about the University Hospital in Mainz.

The reason is that one of the hospital’s surgeons has been fired because he got a maid to assist him during a toe amputation.

This is reported by the news agency AP.

Had to run

The incident took place in 2020, but has only become known now.

The intention was that two surgeons would amputate the patient’s little toe while the patient had local anesthetic in the foot.

One surgeon had to run to an emergency operation. The other surgeon therefore continued the routine operation alone.

As the patient was restless, the surgeon summoned a woman who had been hired as a cleaner at the hospital.

The woman had no medical experience at all, German media write.

She was asked to hold the patient’s leg, and was also given a swab.

Busted

Hospital manager Norberg Pfeiffer tells the newspaper general newspaper that another employee at the hospital discovered the cleaning assistant in the operating theatre.

She must then have been in full swing, and had bloody bandages on her hands.

Tabloidavisa Bild writes that the amputating duo was discovered by one of the hospital’s directors.

The patient was not injured as a result of the incident, and the toe was amputated, assures Pfeiffer.

Had to go

Hospital manager Norberg Pfeiffer says that he and the hospital apologize for the whole thing, and that the surgeon in question has been fired.

– The employment relationship with the doctor was terminated following an employment law procedure, writes Allgemeine Zeitung.

Shocked “everyone” – now he regrets it

Pfeiffer emphasizes that the University Hospital in Mainz is very concerned about patient safety, and that they treat around 700,000 patients a year.

– The incident is very regrettable, and must not be repeated, says a spokesperson for the Ministry of Science and Health in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate to the newspaper.