Irritating incident

“Tying up” at the operating table: Was a colleague tortured?

The accused incident took place in an operating theater (symbolic image).(Bild: Mongkolchon Akesin)

(Bild: Christof Birbaumer Kronenzeitung)

An irritating incident at Hall Hospital in Tyrol has now led to legal proceedings: Were four nurses just exaggerating a "joke" or was a colleague actually tortured?

Deprivation of liberty and aggravated coercion plus grievous bodily harm - these are the charges facing four now suspended nurses (aged 31, 45, 48 and 50) at Hall Hospital in Tyrol. On the first day of the trial, they pleaded not guilty.

"Exercise" with the surgical assistant
What had happened? At the end of February of the previous year, a complex operation was scheduled and the patient's position was to be practiced on the surgical assistant. "We laughed about it in a collegial manner," explained the first defendant.

We laughed in a collegial manner.

Der Erstangeklagte zum Vorfall

Clear drawings and photos
The woman was then restrained with straps and held down for around 15 minutes - even when she no longer found it "funny". The third defendant is also said to have drawn an anus and a vagina on the victim's work trousers with a sharpie pen. Photos were then also taken in this degrading situation.

The four defendants were suspended at Hall Regional Hospital.(Bild: Christof Birbaumer Kronenzeitung)

Woman unable to work afterwards
The fact alone that the woman was on sick leave for a long time afterwards with post-traumatic stress syndrome shows that it was no joke, the public prosecutor pointed out. In fact, the expert witness attested to a depressive disorder. The experiences in the operating room were certainly likely to have triggered it.

"Own humor" in the operating room
The defense, on the other hand, does not see a "sensitive victim", but rather that the colleague had often been involved in crude jokes up to that point. There was sometimes a "humor of its own" in the operating theatre. The trial at Innsbruck Regional Court was adjourned for the time being for further questioning.