"Completely Unacceptable"

Alleged Medical Malpractice: 3-Year-Old Girl Dies in Vienna

The tragic trial concerning the death of a three-year-old girl is underway at the Palace of Justice in Vienna.(Bild: Krone-Collage/APA/HANS KLAUS TECHT, stock.adobe.com null)

Parents allege: They were sent home three times in Vienna with their sick daughter (3). Even the emergency response was disastrous. The girl died at a Vienna hospital. The court is now set to clarify the circumstances of this tragic case.

It is often only through court proceedings that dramatic events in our country come to public attention. Such is the case here—a case that leaves one speechless. At the start of the hearing, the judge at the Vienna Regional Court for Civil Matters also expressed her shock at the horrific sequence of events: “What happened leaves no one in this courtroom unmoved,” she said, offering her condolences to the family members who filed the lawsuit.

Paramedics Arrived Without an Emergency Doctor
In fact, the events of February 2024 resemble a nightmare that began in a mundane way: The preschool called the parents because their three-year-old daughter had developed a fever. The next day, the parents took the girl to a children’s hospital, where doctors suspected a gastrointestinal infection. On the fourth and sixth days, the family visited a pediatrician’s office—both times, the attending pediatrician sent them home after what they believe were instances of medical malpractice.

My clients are not concerned with financial compensation, as they earn a good living. Their priority is to finally get to the bottom of their daughter’s death.

Anwalt Sascha Flatz vertritt die Angehörigen.

Bild: Eva Manhart

The following night, the three-year-old’s condition becomes so critical that her mother dials 911 and alerts emergency services. There, too, the parents identified fatal negligence: The paramedics did not arrive in an ambulance but in a patient transport vehicle and without an emergency physician. The unresponsive child was transported to a hospital in the Vienna Health Network on the other side of the city and was not even registered as an emergency case there. The mother was forced to fill out forms while her daughter, in a life-threatening condition, remained untreated. Shortly thereafter, the child died at the hospital: she had suffered from severe pneumonia caused by the flu.

All defendants deny liability
Vienna-based attorney Sascha Flatz is representing the family in their lawsuit against the pediatrician, the City of Vienna, and the Red Cross: “My clients are not seeking financial compensation, as they earn a very good living. What matters to them is that their daughter’s death is finally clarified,” he tells the judge.

But right from the start of the trial, it becomes clear that the case is likely to devolve into an intolerable passing of the buck. All defendants deny liability. The attempt to reach a settlement fails.

As a result, numerous witnesses are now to be questioned. The judge also appoints an expert to determine whether medical malpractice occurred. Flatz is convinced: “This was a completely unacceptable chain of wrong decisions that led to the death of my clients’ child. The girl’s death could easily have been prevented if the treatment had been carried out according to standard practice.”

Hospital: “No Evidence of Internal Errors”
The Vienna Health Association expresses its deepest sympathy to the family but firmly rejects the allegations: “The case has already been thoroughly investigated internally by the hospital. The investigation revealed no evidence of medical malpractice,” a spokeswoman told the “Krone.” Adjourned.