Seven Dead in Malpractice Scandal

German Clinic Removed Healthy Organs

A German clinic is embroiled in a scandal over unauthorized surgery and hair-raising hygiene standards. The head doctor has been arrested on charges of causing the deaths of seven patients. Prosecutors say lemon juice was used to disinfect scars and that healthy gallbladders and appendixes were cut out without the patients' consent.

DDP

Bring a lemon.

Imagine waking up from an operation and being told that your gallbladder and appendix had been removed without your authorization.

And then having the fresh scar treated with lemon juice instead of proper disinfectant.

Police last week arrested the head doctor of a private clinic, Arnold Pier, on a variety of charges including grievous bodily harm and involuntary manslaughter.

The charges include manslaughter in four cases, grievous bodily harm resulting in the deaths of three patients and various other counts relating to causing injury, the state prosecutor's office in the western German city of Mönchengladbach said in a statement.

Pier was head doctor and managing director of the small St. Antonius Clinic in the town of Wegberg.

"The doctor is accused of removing gallbladders and appendixes without authorization while he was carrying out operations for other reasons," prosecutor Lothar Gathen told SPIEGEL ONLINE.

Eight other doctors at the clinic, three of whom are still working there, will also be charged, prosecutors said. The hospital, which has around 100 beds, remains open.

The investigation was launched after police received an anonymous complaint. Pier, who made a name for himself in medical circles in the field of keyhole surgery, bought the clinic in 2006 when it was on the brink of insolvency. He was its managing director as well as head doctor.

The Mönchengladbach district court has ordered Pier to be remanded in custody. "This arrest warrant results from the risk that he may abscond given the threat of a heavy sentence," the prosecutor's statement said.

Investigators believe he was motivated by a desire to maximize profits. They launched an investigation in December 2006.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper quoted former patients who filed a legal complaint against Pier as claiming that he had initially removed the gallbladder or the appendix of every patient he had operated on. The plaintiffs claim he would also fit artificial colons in some cases, according to the newspaper.

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