Died of cancer

Parents did not have child treated: Convicted!

Valerie died of cancer. Her parents were convicted because they had withheld a diagnosis and subsequently adequate treatment from their child.

(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

A young girl in Carinthia had to endure incomprehensible suffering before her death. Although she had an "apricot-sized" tumor in her foot, her "loving parents" did not have the disease diagnosed and left it untreated by conventional medicine. Valerie (name changed) died; mom and dad each received a one-year conditional prison sentence. They are appealing against the sentence.

"In 35 years as a doctor, I've never seen anything like it," says an oncologist who treated the girl in the last days of her life. "It was a dying child who was brought to us in hospital. The child could hardly breathe, the tumors were visible, pain therapy would have been necessary for a long time. But the father just said: it is what it is." The doctors were so appalled by the behavior that they filed a complaint.

"Opinion over the welfare of the child"
The criminal proceedings at the regional court in Klagenfurt clearly show that the parents - she a lawyer, he unemployed - have their own view of the world. "Of course you're not accused of that. Nor that you didn't love your child dearly," says public prosecutor Ines Küttler. "The accusation is that you nevertheless put your opinion above the welfare of your child!"

Despite her obvious illness, the couple dragged Valerie to healers, energeticians and alchemists before her death, but not to a "normal" doctor who should have clarified what kind of tumor was in her foot. "You failed to provide your daughter with comprehensive information about what she was suffering from. Only after a diagnosis could she have decided what she wanted."

The parents insist that their daughter deliberately chose this path. "She was very strong-willed," they always emphasize. "She wanted it that way." At the age of 14, she would have decided against any conventional medical treatment. And she had also seen a specialist.

Doctor "commutes" in the courtroom
The appearance of this specialist from Klagenfurt - who still has an elective medical practice - is surprising: the anaesthetist and internist unpacks a biotensor that looks like a silver pendulum in the witness box and scales the accuser. "I don't pendulum, I mute," the doctor explains seriously. He had examined Valerie in this way and found nothing organic: "The girl was healthy," he says. He administered infusions of cat's claw and other "miracle cures" to treat the tumor, which was the size of half an apricot. Three months later, Valerie was dead.

Trial continues
It remains to be seen whether his treatment methods will have any consequences for the doctor. For the parents, the criminal proceedings ended in the first instance with a conviction for torture by omission - Judge Michaela Sanin sentenced each of them to one year's conditional imprisonment with a penalty of up to three years. As the defendants immediately lodged an appeal, it is now up to the Higher Regional Court of Graz.