Women Mutilated

“Dr. Pfusch” Also Charged with Serious Fraud

The doctor is alleged to have punctured a woman’s intestine ten times during a liposuction procedure. (Stock photo)(Bild: anatoliy_gleb - stock.adobe.com)

The Graz Public Prosecutor’s Office has leveled serious charges against a cosmetic surgeon from Styria—the doctor, who already has a criminal record for mutilating patients, is also alleged to have forged their signatures. 

“I’ve been completely botched,” a woman from Styria complained to the “Krone” last year, referring to her cosmetic surgeon. He removed her breast implants, performed a breast and tummy tuck, and pinched her ears. But the Styrian doctor’s surgery—as had already happened with several other patients—went completely wrong! Necrosis developed in both breasts, one ear still sticks out, and he removed too much skin during the liposuction. Tension lines and large scars have disfigured her body ever since.

“I’m just glad to be alive at all.”
Daryoush Parvizi has already been convicted twice in final judgments for negligent bodily injury—during a liposuction procedure on a woman from Styria, he punctured her intestine ten times, leaving her unable to lead a normal life. “I have to be glad I’m still alive at all; I owe that entirely to the plastic surgeons at LKH Graz,” the mother, who will suffer the consequences for the rest of her life, told the “Krone.”

The doctor is alleged to have punctured a woman from Styria’s intestine ten times during a liposuction procedure. (Stock photo)(Bild: anatoliy_gleb - stock.adobe.com)

Already during the criminal proceedings for negligent bodily injury at the Wiener Neustadt Regional Criminal Court in 2020 and 2022, suspicions arose that the physician might have tampered with the informed consent forms and consent statements. The impression arose that “the defendant does not take the truth very seriously and may have subsequently manipulated his records to his advantage,” as noted in the court transcript.

He is now actually standing trial before a criminal court in Graz on charges of aggravated commercial fraud. This is because he is alleged to have failed to inform the Styrian woman mentioned above of all the risks prior to the procedures. However, to prove the contrary before the competent civil court, he did submit the necessary documents—informed consent forms—complete with the patient’s signatures. This came as a complete shock to the woman, as she insisted she had never signed anything of the sort with him!

The State of Styria Sees “Imminent Danger”
Her attorney, Karin Prutsch-Lang, subsequently drafted a statement of facts to that effect and submitted it to the Graz District Attorney’s Office. The office appointed a handwriting expert, who concluded that the woman’s signatures were likely forged—either by copying or tracing. This was followed by an indictment for aggravated fraud; a first court hearing has already taken place.

I hope there are no further victims and that the professional ban remains in effect, at least this time. 

Anwältin Karin Prutsch-Lang

Bild: Christian Jauschowetz

In addition, Daryoush Parvizi was once again barred from practicing at his Graz practice—on the grounds of “imminent danger” and “protection of the public interest,” as stated in the decision by the State of Styria—which is why the “Krone” also names the suspect. The reasoning also states that he presumably failed to fulfill “his medical duty to inform and document patients over an already very long period of time (...)”.