The patient died

Alcoholic emergency doctor condemned: “To err is human!”

The emergency doctor had to answer to the Villach district court for endangering physical safety.(Bild: Kerstin Wassermann)

When Carinthian emergency services were asked for help by a Slovenian emergency doctor during an ambulance transport, they were horrified: The young medic was "blue" - with a blood alcohol level of 2.2, he tried to resuscitate his patient. What did the man say at his trial in Villach? "Errare humanum est!" For the time being, he gets off with a fine of 600 euros ...

To err is human. Of course. But the doctor from Slovenia made more than one mistake during an ambulance transport from Croatia to Germany with a Styrian provider. "My first mistake was that I accepted the patient in the first place. He was not fit for me to transport him," the 34-year-old lectured during the trial at the district court in Villach.

"Wasn't that the bigger mistake, drinking so much in the first place?" asks Judge Sabrina Pušnik cautiously. "That too," he admits. He had "drunk a lot the evening before an ambulance was called late. Unfortunately, that was the case last year. I had problems with my girlfriend; she cheated on me". He had drunk large quantities of vodka and other spirits in his loneliness and with a friend from the Styrian organization.

I drank a lot. Unfortunately, that was the case last year. I had problems with my girlfriend; she cheated on me.

Angeklagter Notarzt

Even 17 hours later, when the Red Cross in Carinthia was called for help after the patient collapsed in the car, the doctor still had 2.2 per mille. "You must have had around 4 per mille beforehand," says the prosecutor in amazement. The doctor shrugs. "Mathematically, that's enough."

Expert opinion exonerates the alcoholic doctor
In any case, a patient who was to be taken home seriously ill - and did not survive the journey - had to pay the price. "As tragic as it is, it was a natural death," emphasizes defence lawyer Markus Steinacher, referring to the findings of three experts: That the emergency doctor may have done a number of things wrong and was heavily intoxicated - but the man would still have died as a result of a corona infection.

The emergency doctor had to answer to the Villach district court for endangering physical safety.(Bild: Kerstin Wassermann)

This is why he was ultimately "only" charged with endangering the physical safety and health of the deceased; an offense that can be punished with a maximum of three months in prison, but could of course cost the doctor his job in his Slovenian homeland.

"I also want something like what happened to this doctor to never happen - not to me, not to you, not to your mother," says the victim's son, who is listening attentively to the trial. Perhaps he is waiting for an apology from the doctor, who seems very gruff. But it doesn't come. "Yes, I put my hands up, take responsibility, what else am I supposed to do?" he grumbles instead. "I no longer work as an emergency doctor either," he assures us, "but at the blood donation center."

100 daily rates times 6 euros as a fine
The sentence: 600 euros fine, legally binding. Under civil law, the doctor is probably still facing high monetary claims - the son of the deceased wants 20,000 euros, of which the doctor acknowledges 1000 euros. And the Styrian rescue service also has financial demands, as the contract with the German ADAC was suspended after the alcohol incident. "There are tens of thousands of euros at stake," claims the lawyer.