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Doc charged in clinic deaths scandal

Prosecutors on Monday charged the owner and head doctor of a private clinic in Germany where unnecessary operations and lax standards of hygiene allegedly killed seven patients.

Published: 21 April 2008 16:39 CEST

Doc charged in clinic deaths scandal

Scalpel. Clamp. Lemon juice? Photo: DPA

Arnold Pier, who until recently was head doctor at the clinic, has been charged with three counts of causing bodily harm leading to death and four counts of manslaughter, prosecutors in Mönchengladbach said in a statement.

Police issued last week a warrant for the arrest of the 52-year-old surgeon, whose was provisionally struck off the medical register last year, after fears that he might flee. Eight other doctors – including three still working at the clinic in Wegberg, in western Germany – were charged with giving incorrect treatment, including in cases where patients died.

According to news media reports, Pier gave incorrect diagnoses and carried out operations such as removing patients’ appendices or gall bladders unnecessarily and using lemon juice as a disinfectant.

Westdeutscher Rundfunk radio cited Pier’s lawyer as saying the charges were part of an “unprecedented attempt at character assassination” by “a group of interested parties” aimed at destroying his reputation and driving him out of the clinic.

Berlin's former mayor injured amid spate of attacks on German politicians

Giffey, who is currently Berlin’s senator for economic affairs, was assaulted at a library in the district of Rudow on Tuesday afternoon, police said on Wednesday.

The suspect attacked Giffey “from behind with a bag filled with hard contents and hit her on the head and neck”. police said in a statement.

Giffey, who is a member of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD), was briefly treated in hospital for “head and neck pain”, said police.

Berlin’s current mayor Kai Wegner condemned the assault on Giffey, saying anyone who attacks politicians are “attacking our democracy”.

“We will not tolerate this,” he said, vowing to examine “tougher sentences for attacks against politicians”.

It comes amid a spate of attacks on politicians in the run up to the European elections next month.

Less than three hours later in the eastern city of Dresden, there was another attack on a Green Party politician while the conference of interior ministers was meeting at the same time.

Police said the victim was a 47-year-old woman who was threatened and spat on.

The politician was putting up campaign posters for the European elections when a man came up, pushed her to the side and tore down two posters.

The man insulted and threatened the politician, while a woman joined in and spat on the victim, police said.

Both suspects were arrested, police said, identifying them as a 34-year-old German man and a 24-year-old woman.

S-Bahn in Dresden

A train drives through Dresden, which has seen two attacks on politicians recently. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Robert Michael

Both were in a group who were standing at the area and who had begun making the banned Hitler salute when the politician began hanging up posters.

The suspects were arrested, police said, identifying them as a 34-year-old German man and a 24-year-old woman.

Last Friday, a European parliament lawmaker, also of the SPD, was seriously injured by four attackers last week as he put up EU election posters – also in Dresden.

Matthias Ecke, 41, needed an operation for serious injuries sustained in the attack, which was denounced by Scholz as a threat to democracy.

READ ALSO: Teenager turns self in after attack on German politician

The incidents have sparked a debate in Germany over the safety of politicians and how best to deal with the violence.

Berlin interior senator Iris Spranger (SPD), said on X: “I strongly condemn the attack on Franziska Giffey and on other politicians and election workers, all of whom are committed to a democratic debate.”

According to provisional police figures, 2,790 crimes were committed against politicians in Germany in 2023, up from 1,806 the previous year, but fewer than the 2,840 recorded in 2021, when legislative elections took place.

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