A family doctor from Lower Saxony has to pay half a million euros compensation to the widow of the patient and his three children because of a treatment error. In August 2017, the doctor had treated the then 50-year-old for acute back pain that had occurred after several disc injuries. Within a week, the family doctor gave him four injections of Solu-Decortin and Diclofenac four times.
A few hours after the fourth treatment, the patient collapsed and was hospitalized with chills and breathing difficulties. There, the doctors noted a severe septic shock that led to multiple organ failure and permanent paralysis. For more than a year, the man had to be artificially ventilated. That his condition would improve, the doctors excluded. The patient finally decided on the "physician-assisted suicide", according to a statement of the Higher Regional Court Celle, which now adjudicated on the case (file reference VI ZR 355/18) .
Consequences of a syringe abscess
The widow and the children of the deceased had sued against the family doctor and demanded 500,000 euros in compensation. The higher regional court Celle decided now in the sense of the survivors and confirmed thus a previous judgment of the district court Lueneburg. The judgment is final. A revision was rejected by the Federal Court of Justice.
The court considered the treatment of the family doctor as grossly flawed. Thus, the injection of the two administered preparations into the muscles contradicted "the professional medical standard and common guidelines".
According to experts, the cause of the sepsis was a so-called abscess. This arises, for example, if the skin of the patient is not properly disinfected before the injection. As a result, pathogens can invade the body and cause a purulent inflammation. In the current case, the germs got into the bloodstream and triggered a sepsis, which is also known as blood poisoning.
More than 300,000 people in Germany suffer from sepsis each year. Indications are extreme malaise, heavy breathing, confusion, high fever and a discolored skin, for example black-colored fingertips. Chills and drowsiness are also possible symptoms. Anyone who observes these complaints should call the emergency number 112 and get help.